 Let's talk about mouth guards. So you might have heard them being referred to as mouth guards or night guards. You would have gone to the dentist or heard from somebody else that yes, you do need one. Now why would we suggest you need a mouth guard? It could be for a couple different things. So a sports guard is something different by the way. So if we tell you you should get a sports guard, that's because you play sports and we need to protect your mouth. But if we say mouth guard, we probably mean either a mouth guard or a night guard. But I guess in some locations, it could be referred to as a sports guard as well. So I would confirm what we want to give it to you for. But a mouth guard otherwise known as a night guard is if you're clenching or grinding your teeth either at night or during the day. Your teeth can wear down quite quickly, believe it or not. It's about 300 pounds of pressure. Imagine that when you're clenching like that 300 pounds of pressure, you can wear down those teeth quickly. The enamel isn't as strong as trying to fight 300 pounds of pressure and wearing the teeth down causes pain, causes cavities even causes sensitivity. Because once the enamel is worn down, you can get cavities. You can be sensitive too because the second layer of your tooth is now exposed. That's that second layer is called the dentin. So what a night guard does is it goes over the teeth either at night or during the day or both, depending on when you're clenching and or grinding and protects the teeth. This happens a lot where a patient will come into the office and say like my mouth hurts every morning, like I'm in so much pain. The first thing we look for is are the teeth worn down? So I'm going to show you guys what a night guard mouth guard looks like. So I'm just going to share it looks like this. So it's not thick. It's not thin. It's kind of in the middle, but I've also seen some where they look like this, but typically you're going to get one like this. These ones is more considered a preformed mouth guard. You can buy them from a lot of stores. They might be about 50 or $60, but it's a one size fits all. I want to say I don't recommend them for most people. The only time I recommend a preformed night guard is if you don't know if you want a mouth guard, you don't know if it's going to make a difference. You don't even know if you'd be able to wear one. I might suggest this or if somebody just simply can't afford a custom mouth guard. So a custom mouth guard is like this. We would take impressions for you, send that off to the lab, and the mouth guard is meant to fit your mouth. You don't have one on the top and bottom. It's typically for the top or for the bottom, depending on what we're making the mouth guard for. As an example, I have a mouth guard because my jaw here, it clicks and pops. So I'm wearing one at night time to just sort of help that so it doesn't get worse. It happened after I got my wisdom teeth taken out. Just something is a little bit out of alignment. So we are trying to correct that. I had my wisdom teeth taken out when I was 15. So I'm now 37. So but it's still clicking and popping. And I know it can get worse. So I have one made for my bottom teeth specifically. But typically if it's for clenching and grinding, you're going to have one made for the top teeth. So it's not that bad. But you guys, you do have to wear it every single night or and every day. Okay. When you don't wear it, then the symptoms return. So if your mouth here is sore because of your clenching and grinding, if you just wear it once a week, it's not going to make a difference. But if you wear it every night or every day, then you will notice over time it's going to make a big difference. I have heard a mouth guard even helps if you get a lot of migraines. It could be because you're clenching without knowing it. And then what the mouth guard does is you put it in your mouth. It helps to keep your jaw in a more relaxed position. So it can't clench or grind as well. You might still clench and grind a little bit, but you can't wear the teeth down because the guard is in place. Does that make sense? So it's a very easy appliance. It's not complicated. But if you have one custom made, that's typically about $500 to $600 depending on where you have it made. A preformed one is going to be about $50 to $60. So as you can see, you guys, a big difference. But let me share my screen again. The preformed ones, you guys, I don't typically recommend just because they're not made for your your mouth. So it's not going to fit properly. It's going to be maybe even uncomfortable and uncomfortable who wants to be uncomfortable. So that's why I suggest the custom ones because they're made for your mouth. I don't want to say they're uncomfortable as it is because they're not uncomfortable. But who is used to having to wear something in their mouth? Nobody is. So it does take some getting used to. So I hope that helps you guys. Let me know if there's any questions between mouth guards, night guards, sports guards, there are many different options. And maybe you're thinking you might need one. So how do you go about getting one? You would go to your dental office, let them know, and they would have one made for you. The preformed ones you can pick up at the store. But just again, I prefer the custom ones because they're made for your mouth and you can't cause any additional damage. What if you buy a preformed one that's too big or too small? You could change your mouth over time if you're wearing it all the time. So that's why custom is better in this case. So let me know you guys if any questions. Thank you for watching and I'll see you guys in the next one.