Updated review: I will shortly be purchasing my third one of these guards. It is still cheaper than paying hundreds at the dentist and having the custom guard only last a couple of months longer than these. I have also been shopping around for other DIY guards, and this one is the best deal that I have found. Your experience, of course, may vary -if you don't like this style or the material, perhaps. Sometimes it takes more tries to get the fit right. But in my opinion, it's still a good deal, and it beats grinding. Now, back to my original review...
This is my second do-it-yourself grind guard (I tried the "Dental Hygiene" one first). Before that I have had over twenty years of the custom kind from the dentist, but they just got too expensive and my most recent one wore out too quickly.
The little tab on this one is an interesting feature. You hold it by the tab to dunk it in the hot water for shaping, and then lift it out (and the hot water runs off -it's the water, not the guard, that can burn you at this stage). After you have molded it to your satisfaction, you cut off the tab. I didn't get a smooth surface at the cut spot yet, but it's good enough, and it beat having to maneuver it with tongs.
This guard seems to be a firmer "plastic" than the other one I tried, and I have hope that perhaps it will last longer. It took two tries, then I got a very good fit and it stays on well.
I do prefer the retainer style, that I got from my first dentist way back when, but I haven't had another opportunity to get one of them.
Good luck.
My $500. night guard from my dentist just gave out so I bought this grind guard. I love it. it fits perfectly. It's softer than my dentist's model which is better for all my grinding.
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I have a small mouth and this product works for me. When I first opened the package I thought there was no way that this would work but once I trimmed it and boiled it I was surprised! This fits quite comfortably. I am able to close my mouth around it which I couldn't with another guard that I bought that was much more expensive. I like the rounded edges nothing boxey in my mouth. I can't believe this quality and comfort for such a small price.
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I grind my teeth pretty badly and the guard that I've been using until now is the "Dental Hygiene Preferred", and I have been happy with it. However, I decided to try the Archtek one because it's cheaper and I had yet to try another brand. That was a bad choice. I'm writing this review in the morning after the third night of using it and my tooth on the right side of my mouth hurts from grinding it. This grind guard is too hard. What's more, it doesn't fit nearly as well, although I have used the "Hygiene Preferred" guard for about a year now and have never had any trouble getting a good fit with any of those guards. I suspect that this one didn't mold completely because it is too wide. I do realize that part of the problem may be simply that it fits my mouth differently and that I am grinding more instinctively because of this foreign object in my mouth, but I feel like I'm having more trouble transitioning to this guard than I did to my very first grind guard.
The bottom line is, I can't wait until my order of "Hygience Preferred" grind guards comes in and I can throw away my current one. My attempt to save some money has turned into waste. Oh well.
Some smaller points of comparison between Archtek and "Hygiene Preferred":
-Archtek's seems to be harder. I have pointed out that this makes my teeth hurt. It is also possible that it will make the guard last longer, although for the sake of my poor teeth I'm not going to experiment with it long enough to find out.
-Archtek's has the tab in front. Yes, this is convenient for holding it in the water, but I had no problem using a spoon in the past. It is, however, very difficult to smooth once you've cut it--there's still a rough part on mine. I will admit that this didn't bother me as much as I thought it would, though--I guess I had enough to be bothered about without that.
-Archtek's extends all the way to the back of my teeth. I think that I have a bigger mouth than average, so I could see it extending too far for some people. They suggest cutting it if you have a smaller mouth, but I can't imagine that this would work any smoother than cutting their tab. Hygiene's, on the other hand, misses a couple of my teeth on either side. This is not a problem, though--you still can't grind those teeth against each other because of the gap. I think that this is part of what made Hygiene's easier to mold to my teeth.
-Yes, Archtek's has a slightly fancier case with a mirror in it. If you actually care about that, then I guess you'd better buy Archtek. Ironically, their case is slightly too small for their over-sized guard (see above point) and would actually fit Hygiene's guard better. Maybe, once my Hygience's guards come in, I'll at least use Archtek's case.
In short, I only have one brand to compare it to, but Archtek comes short in almost every way. Slightly cheaper, but horrible value--especially if you're like me and want to throw it away after your third use.
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I've had this mouthguard for about two weeks now and I have to say its the best one I've used so far (I've tried many store-bought and online brands). It was easy to use, with that tab in the front and I tend to grind me teeth heavily at night so this has been a good product. The only drawback I would say is that it doesn't allow ventilation, like some of the other mouth guards I've used in the past. So sometimes, I feel stifled but thats just a preference. Overall it is a great product.
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As unromantic as it sounds, my sweetie (who often snores loudly) gave these to me for my birthday. I had been talking about buying custom made earplugs and he thought these might be a good alternative. Well, I love the earplus and I love him for getting them for me.
