Stress has always been a big hot-button topic in my family. Since we tend to turn it inward way before confronting it out loud, stress manifests in tooth grinding -also known as bruxism- and ulcers. While we can't do much about ulcer prevention, we can certainly do something about the tooth grinding before it scales all the way up to the most painful and expensive of consequences. Dislocating your jaw while you sleep? Nothing says a troubled night like having to pop your jaw back in joint when you wake up in the morning.

Night Guard, TMJ, Bruxism, Tooth Grinding, NightGuard is a product designed to help. If you can't eliminate the causes of your nighttime stress, you can at least minimize the time you'll spend popping bones back into place and the money you'd spend at the dentist once you've ground your way into a root canal or two. (Ever break a crown? I've known people who have. Not pretty.)

One of the nice things I've found as I've gotten older and more familiar with these problems is that I have full removeable dentures. I get to take my dentures out at night, and although my jaw still tries to grind those teeth together there's no way that the upper and lower jaw can make full contact. I often wake up in the morning to find my jaw popped out, and I'm sincerely grateful for only a dislocated jaw instead of a broken tooth.