Plastic night guard dilemma

[varaonaid]

Hi there,

I'm facing a dilemma and wondered if anyone could offer thoughts and advice.

I've been working really hard the past year to reduce and eliminate plastic from our kitchen and house, wherever possible and practical. Plastic food storage was converted to glass and mason jars, plastic wrap has been replaced with wax paper when needed and the PVC shower curtain has been replaced with a nylon one, to give a few examples.

Now, I've had TMJ/TMD for awhile now and with it, the nighttime teeth grinding. Apparently, I've been grinding away for so long, my back teeth have been worn down considerably. So, I'm forced to start wearing a night guard. Problem is, they're all plastics of some description! So after removing all this plastic from my house, I find myself grinding away on it for 8 hours a night. :

So here's my question. Since they obviously don't make glass or wooden teech guards I have to live with using one (since the alternative of having no teeth left is not a good one). I'm currently using an inexpensive "mold it yourself" guard from the drugstore but am considering having a dental lab make a custom one. If I do, I can choose a hard acrylic one instead of an all soft one. Do you think that the acrylic ones would be safer in terms of not leaching chemicals? Does anyone have any thoughts or insight that might help?

Thanks in advance! Sorry for the long post. Just kinda frustrated about the whole thing...

[jocelyndale]

I don't know how much leaching happens after the initial boil with your off-the-rack guard.

The hard acrylic ones last longer and are custom molded, so that can prevent the TMD from getting worse. I did find that that first week or two resulted in a headache, both from getting used to a new mouthpiece, and from the offgassing of said piece. I do have MCS, though, which means I react to stuff others do not.

[babycarrier]

I had similar questions about the plastic in my mouth over night when told I needed one for TMJ. The pain was pretty severe.

I actually used chiropractic care and have not needed the nightguard at all as the symptoms have disappeared.

[SleeplessMommy]

My husband has tried both (for snoring!). I think the dentist-molded is more likely to FIX the TMJ problem. You can ask the dentist what product they use for the molding, and look up the MSDS, which will tell you exactly whats in it. Just google product name and "MSDS".

[vagabonder]

I have also heard that dentists molds are much better for correcting the problem than the "mold it yourself" ones. Also, if you have any silver fillings (I unfortunately do), I personally think it is much better to grind the molds than the mercury.