Recommendations for people who use a front-teeth-only mouth guard

Because the use of a front-teeth-only mouth guard causes people to use medial pterygoid muscles for clenching rather than messeter and temporalis muscles (which is what the SleepGuard biofeedback headband is designed to sense, we don't recommend the SleepGuard biofeedback headband for people who use a front-teeth-only mouth guard.

​The theory behind front-teeth-only mouth guards like the NTI is that they will be instinctively uncomfortable to bite on, and therefore will stop people from clenching.  Unfortunately,  that is not true for a lot of people, and since you have wound up on this web page, we assume it is not true for you.  There is something else important you should know...

If you use a front-teeth-only mouth guard and it does not stop you from clenching, the act of clenching on it over time will warp the shape of your lower jaw (your mandible), and you may wind up with a nasty condition known as an "open bite".

We therefore recommend that you inform your dentist that the front-teeth-only mouth guard you are using is not stopping you from clenching, and that you don't want to wind up with an open bite.

If your dentist then switches you to a mouth guard which goes between all of your teeth, back to your molars, then you can also use the SleepGuard biofeedback headband along with your mouth guard if you wish, to train yourself out of your clenching habit, thus eliminating the root cause of your TMJ symptoms.

Regardless of whether you use a front-teeth-only mouth guard, and regardless of whether you ever decide to use the SleepGuard biofeedback headband, we hope we can help you on your search for the right treatment, by providing this link to a Myth-Busting Article about TMJ: