What does a night guard do?
1. It’s hard to sleep in
2. I spit it out while I’m sleeping
3. It gets grody really quick
4. It makes my wallet lighter, alleviating future back problems 😉
Sounds like fun. But dentists recommend them for a reason.
Case
A guy goes to a dentist three months ago in unbearable tooth pain. He can’t chew but everything looks normal. Yesterday I see him, frustrated, in severe pain, unable to eat.
Bam. What is that (red arrows)?
Boom. Look at worn-down teeth with sharp edges (blue circles).
Answer
This Patient split his tooth right in half. Ouch.
Not fixable. It was extracted. Fortunately, a magical dental implant can replace this tooth. But a small ($) problem turned into a larger ($$$) dollar implant.
I did a postmortem autopsy out of intrigue.
* Yes, Diagnoses come with sound effects like the old Batman comics. I’m a dentist, come on, this is as exciting as it gets. Whammie!
-Dr. Ross
