“Dedicated to Enhancing Your Smile with Exceptional Care and Expertise”.
“Dedicated to Enhancing Your Smile with Exceptional Care and Expertise”.
“Dedicated to Enhancing Your Smile with Exceptional Care and Expertise”.
“Dedicated to Enhancing Your Smile with Exceptional Care and Expertise”.
Medically reviewed by Dr. Angela Leung, DDS – Last reviewed August 19, 2026
Grinding and clenching don’t just “wear teeth down.” They crack enamel, chip fillings, stress crowns, and overload jaw muscles often for years before it becomes a real emergency.
At Angela Leung DDS PC – The Endodontics Implant Center, we build night guards as a protective system: we identify where your bite is overloading, stabilize irritants that trigger harder clenching, then fabricate and calibrate a guard that fits your real clench/grind pattern not a generic template.
A night guard is worth doing when you’re seeing (or feeling) any of this:
Ignore bruxism long enough and the pattern is predictable: micro-chips become fractures, sensitive teeth become cracked teeth, and dental work that should last years starts failing early. The goal is to reduce the overload before it costs you tooth structure (or another crown).
Occlusal analysis is a focused bite evaluation that checks how your teeth contact when you bite and move because tiny “high contacts” and unstable bite points can spike clenching and make a guard feel bulky or irritating.
This is how we prevent the classic drawer-guard story: “It fell off, so I stopped wearing it.”
Most night guards fail for boring reasons: the bite wasn’t stabilized first, the design didn’t match the force level, or nobody refined the bite contacts after delivery.
Our protocol is built to prevent that:
We review symptoms (jaw tightness, headaches, tooth soreness), current dental work at risk, wear patterns, and any red flags that need diagnosis before a guard is made.
We choose the guard design based on what you’re protecting, how hard you’re clenching, and what you’ve tolerated before then we specify coverage, retention, comfort trimming, and contact scheme.
This is where success is made: we verify seat/retention and refine the bite contacts so the guard feels stable and reduces overload rather than creating it.
We recheck comfort, retention, and bite contacts, and we track symptom change (jaw tightness/headaches/tooth soreness). Small refinements early prevent the “I gave up on it” outcome.
Replacing missing teeth with durable artificial implants.
Specialized care for complex dental procedures.
Specialized dental care treating tooth pulp and roots.
Specialized care for gums and supporting structures.
Repairing teeth for function, health, aesthetics.
Enhance smiles with aesthetic and dental treatments.
Precise evaluation of bite alignment and jaw function.
Clear, precise guidance for safe and effective surgery.
There isn’t one “best” material. There’s the right design for your forces and your goals.
Best when you need maximum durability and predictable bite contacts especially if you’ve broken dental work before or you’re protecting restorations.
Often a strong middle ground when comfort is a barrier but you still need stable protection.
Some cases require modified coverage, different thickness logic, or staged planning especially when we’re coordinating with restorative work or managing bite instability.
Most people can adapt quickly but only if the guard is finished and calibrated correctly.
If you’ve invested in dental work, bruxism is the quiet warranty-voider.
We also coordinate sequencing. If a tooth needs diagnosis or treatment first (example: cracked tooth symptoms or endodontic concerns), we don’t “lock in” a problem bite by rushing a guard.
We’ll give you a written plan with costs before treatment begins, then help you choose a realistic path forward.
OTC guards can reduce tooth-to-tooth contact, but they can also fit poorly, feel bulky, and create unstable bite contacts. If you’ve had cracks, repeated repairs, jaw symptoms, or expensive restorations to protect, the fit and bite calibration matter.
That’s a design and finishing issue. We choose the design that matches your tolerance and refine edges and contacts so it’s comfortable enough to wear consistently
Many patients get relief when muscle overload is reduced, but jaw pain can have multiple drivers. We screen for red flags and coordinate care when something else needs attention.
After your evaluation and records, the guard is fabricated and delivered with a calibration appointment. Timing depends on your case and any treatment we need to sequence first.
It depends on your force level and the material. Heavy clenchers may wear through guards faster—one reason follow-ups and wear checks matter.
Angela Leung DDS PC – The Endodontics Implant Center
1131 Mission Road, South San Francisco, CA 94080
Phone: 415-681-2697
Hours: Monday–Friday 10:00 am – 6:00 pm (Saturday & Sunday closed)
If you’re dealing with missing teeth, failing dental work, or full-mouth breakdown, the fastest relief is clarity.
