How are you making nightguards in 2026?

 We have always made our hard guards without tissue contact and most times we use full maxillary coverage. Most times we specify two metal ball clasps between the first molar and second bicuspid. These clasps can be adjusted if needed to tighten the fit of a loose night guard (night guards tend to wear and get   looser with time.

We still use a lab that knows how to fabricate these guards using an analog manner  but are using digital impressions to capture both arches and the bite. Our lab uses a 3D printed model and then applys the metal ball clasps and applies cold cure acrylic. These 'hybrid' nightguards seem to combine the 'old' tried and true lab techniques with newer digital techniques for taking the impression and fabricating a 3D printed model. 

These guards require less effort to fit to patients mouths and patients seem to be very satisfied with their fit. They seem to fit more passively with less discomfort due to the tightness that many patients complained about when we used older techniques.



from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2026/06/how-are-you-making-nightguards-in-2026.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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