NTI Oral Appliances

Your jaw muscles can exert extreme force even while you are asleep. Many people know that nightly teeth grinding and clenching can be a real pain. In fact, excessive clenching and grinding, known as bruxism, can cause uncomfortable symptoms as well as unnecessary damage to your teeth and jaw joints.

Complications of Bruxism

Many people experience clenching and grinding at some point during their lives, but chronic bruxism can create an entire catalog of painful symptoms. Some of the most common ones include: 

• Migraines
• Tension headaches
• Neck aches
• Shoulder pain
• Tooth sensitivity
• Cracked teeth
• Jaw pain
• Facial tension
• Fatigue
• Gum recession
• Abfractions (tooth notching near the gum line)
• Tori (bony growths)
• Earaches
• Tinnitus
• Over-developed jaw muscles

When left untreated, you may need restorative work to repair damaged teeth. Bruxism can even cause irreversible joint damage to your TMJ (temporomandibular joints). You may even find that bruxism is causing damage to your existing dental restorations, requiring repeated treatment. That is why at Schoen Family Dentistry, Drs. Thomas and Nate Schoen offers relief with oral appliance therapy. 

NTI-tss Mouthguards for Relief of Bruxism

Mouthguards and occlusal (bite) splints are common treatments for bruxism, as well as to relieve the symptoms of jaw pain and TMJ disorders. At Schoen Family Dentistry, Thomas Schoen, DDS, has worked with Dr. Jim Boyd in the development of the NTI and has years of placing and adjusting this group of custom oral appliances to prevent jaw problems and clenching.

Because the NTI appliance covers the front teeth and keeps the back teeth from touching, many of our patients find it more comfortable than traditional mouthguards that completely cover your upper or lower teeth. Sometimes, full coverage mouthguards increase certain patients’ likelihood of bearing down and clenching even harder while they sleep.

Since the NTI keeps the back teeth separated, it means relief on your jaw joints because you cannot clench or grind your posterior teeth.

Creating the NTI Appliance 

Each NTI appliance is custom created to fit your front teeth snugly and stay put while you sleep. In order to create your NTI, we will need to take impressions of your front teeth and form your NTI from sturdy acrylic. Once your NTI appliance is ready, we will perform any final adjustments necessary to ensure a comfortable fit. We may need to adjust it periodically to ensure that it fits comfortably and snugly.

Your NTI appliance will be small and easy to take with you while you travel so that you can experience better sleep and fewer symptoms no matter where you are.

Do You Clench and Grind Your Teeth?

Contact our Wabasha, MN dental office and schedule an evaluation with Dr. Schoen. His experience and expertise will guide you toward a solution that allows you to feel comfortable, protects your teeth, and gives you the better night’s sleep you deserve.