Our teeth and gums can withstand a lot of pressure without suffering damage. However, excessive force trauma or constant grinding can lead to serious dental conditions. If you play contact sports or grind your teeth at night, your dentist may suggest a custom mouthguard or nightguard to help protect your teeth. With new advances in 3-D printing technology, nightguards and mouthguards in Port Charlotte, FL, are quicker and more effective than ever. By using digital impression and in-office 3-D printing, your dentist could help you get a custom oral appliance with greater ease and comfort.
How 3-D Printing Improves Getting Nightguard and Mouthguards in Port Charlotte, FL
In traditional dentistry, getting a nightguard or mouthguard isn’t always easy or effective. Many patients with small mouths or sensitive gag reflexes could struggle getting physical impressions. Sometimes, the pain or discomfort would make it difficult to get accurate impressions. Then, after going through that ordeal, patients would still need to wait for a few weeks while their mouthguards were fabricated. With 3-D printing, however, the process is often quicker and smoother.
Digital Impressions
Physical impressions for mouthguards can be uncomfortable and even painful for some patients. Failure to get a good impression could lead to an ineffective oral appliance. With new digital impressions, however, many patients can find greater comfort and ease. Dentists use an intraoral device (often referred to as a wand) that takes images of a patient’s mouth. Digital imaging software compiles these images to create a digital model of the patient’s bite. The intraoral device is often less invasive than other impression methods and could provide higher accuracy in mouthguard creation.
Printing
Once the impressions are taken, your dentist can then use advanced 3-D printing technology to create your custom mouthguard right away. Instead of sending a model to a lab for mouthguard fabrication, this process allows for a quick turnaround time. When it comes to playing contact sports or suffering from teeth grinding, a speedy delivery could be key to protecting your oral health. With 3-D printing, your custom mouthguard could be ready on the same day you take impressions.
If you grind your teeth at night or play a contact sport, you may need a nightguard or mouthguard to help prevent damage. At Sun Smile Dentistry, we use advanced digital impressions and 3-D printing technology to help improve your experience and expedite the fabrication process. Call us today at 941-271-0721 to schedule a consultation and learn more about our custom mouthguards.