Protecting teeth and jaw when grinding or an overloaded joint becomes too much.
A splint in this sense doesn't move anything, it holds still: a thin buffer between the rows of teeth that absorbs the forces that would otherwise act unchecked on your teeth and jaw joint. Whether nighttime grinding is wearing down your teeth, or your jaw joint and muscles are out of sync: we find out what your case needs.
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Night GuardBruxismTMD
It often doesn't start with a dedicated appointment, but at a perfectly normal check-up: we see the typical wear patterns on your teeth, or your partner mentions the sound at night. You yourself haven't noticed anything: nighttime grinding and clenching (clinically: bruxism) usually happens unconsciously, in your sleep.
For others, it's the other way round: pain in the jaw joint, a clicking sound when opening, morning tension in the chewing muscles: here, the symptoms come first, not a silent trace (clinically: temporomandibular dysfunction, TMD for short). Both lead to the same question: which splint protects or relieves, and how do we get there?
During an examination, we establish the diagnosis and need. If a protective splint is indicated, we submit the application directly to your insurer. You don't need to submit anything yourself.
About two weeks later, our dental assistant takes an impression of your teeth using a soft impression material. It doesn't hurt and needs no anaesthetic.
About a week after that, your dentist fits the finished splint and adjusts it so it carries evenly when you bite down. You can eat and speak normally right afterwards.
It starts with a brief screening; if needed, our partner lab measures your jaw movement and also makes the splint. It is then usually adjusted several times over a few weeks until the muscles respond. Whether and how a splint helps with jaw joint complaints isn't cleanly established scientifically; it's a reasoned treatment attempt, not a guaranteed cure, and not every jaw joint complaint needs a splint.
The night guard against nighttime clenching and grinding is a covered service under public insurance. We submit the application, you don't need to worry about anything. Privately insured patients also receive it through their plan. If the splint is worn out, broken or lost, insurance also covers a new one if the need persists; there's no fixed interval for that.
For a jaw joint complaint, the line falls differently: the simple initial examination, the TMD screening, is covered by insurance as a brief assessment. The extended functional analysis and the functional splint made on that basis are private services. These are two different splints with different aims: an occlusal splint without that analysis remains a covered service even for jaw joint complaints. Which one suits you, and whether and which costs you would pay privately, is something we clarify in conversation, with a written cost estimate beforehand.
Where the covered service ends and a private service begins is something you know before treatment starts, not only on the bill.
The splint protects and relieves. It doesn't cure. Grinding is largely centrally controlled, often driven by stress, and the splint doesn't change that. That's why a splint is almost always paired with working on the cause: noticing and relieving stress, consciously relaxing the chewing muscles, and, for TMD, physiotherapy as well. For jaw joint complaints, physiotherapy and exercises can also be the first path even without a splint; which combination fits is clarified during the examination.
With mild, harmless clenching, waiting is a reasonable option; with progressing wear or growing symptoms, that path ends up being the most expensive one.
Stress management & physiotherapy
The splint catches the consequences as long as the cause persists. If you only wear the splint and leave stress or tension as they are, you're protecting your teeth, but not changing the grinding.
Extra protection, not a replacement
For veneer shells, it's well documented that wearing a splint significantly lowers the risk of fracture; grinding is a clear risk factor for implants too. More under Veneers.
Pre-made or dentist-made
We don't adjust splints from a drugstore or mail order, we don't know how they were made. A splint made for you by a dentist, we're happy to fold into your ongoing check-ups and adjust where needed.
A splint protects reliably, as long as it's clear what it protects, and what it doesn't replace.
Whether a splint is the right protection or the approach should be elsewhere, we'll work that out together.
Zahngesundheit verstehen, Entscheidung leben.
Both are protective, relieving splints, not movement appliances. The difference lies in what they protect and who pays for them. What fits your case is clarified through diagnosis; often a single splint even covers both roles.
For nighttime grinding (bruxism)
For jaw joint and muscle complaints (TMD)
No. The splint protects your teeth from the consequences of grinding, but it doesn't eliminate the grinding itself: that's largely centrally controlled, often by stress, and needs its own attention.
If TMD is suspected, it starts with a brief screening during your check-up: we palpate the chewing muscles, check how far you can open your mouth, and listen for joint sounds. If that's not enough, a more detailed, instrument-based measurement of your jaw movement follows through our partner lab: it complements the clinical examination but doesn't replace it. The lab then uses that same data to make your splint.
Because soft splints can actually encourage some people's chewing muscles to bite down more, rather than calming them. Current clinical guidance explicitly advises against them for grinding. The hard, individually fitted splint protects more reliably.
The night guard, yes, usually every night. It only protects while it's in your mouth. Some functional splints follow a different, fixed wearing schedule, which your dentist sets for you.
The plain protective splint is designed not to do that. With certain functional splints, which deliberately change the bite, using them for too long or incorrectly can shift the bite, which is why they're time-limited and monitored closely.
The night guard, yes, and we obtain the approval for you beforehand. For jaw joint complaints too, an occlusal splint without extended functional analysis remains a covered service. Private are the extended functional analysis, which goes beyond the screening, and the TMD splint made on that basis; the TMD screening itself is covered. Which splint fits your situation and what part of it is private, we clarify before starting, with a written cost estimate.
