CPAP and nightguard

[fillmore50]

Hi, the reason I discovered CPAP is because I was grinding my teeth 9 years ago. I tried the CPAP at that time, concluded that it wasn't for me so slept on my side for the following several years (my dentist's nightguard applied to the upper teeth which I think also helped with my OSA to some extent).

Only relatively recently I was convinced again to try CPAP and discover that newer CPAP machines are something else and I tolerate them a lot better (because of AutoSense).

Question for those who also grind their teeth (bruxism): do you use your nightguard as well in addition to the CPAP? Or is one of the perks of a "managed" sleep apnea that wearing a nightguard is no longer needed/recommended? I tried sleeping without it for one night, but I was unable to definitely determine whether the nightguard had become unnecessary.

What's your experience?

Thanks

Fillmore

[sptrout]

Yes, I wear a nightguard nightly and almost all day for that matter. I clench my teeth causing tooth and jaw pain, which the nightguard fixed. This all started a couple years after I started using a CPAP so I do not connect the two as being related.

[ArcherNeedsSleep]

I've worn a nightguard for about 5 years, which significantly reduced my dental costs from fillings that would fail repeatedly....they can hold up to eating ice cubes (yes, I know I'm not supposed to do that) but not to the constant tooth grinding all night.

I've been on CPAP for ~6 months and I've tried sleeping without the guard a few times, but each time I would wake up with obvious jaw soreness.   I think the tooth grinding is here to stay, and I'll keep using the guard for the foreseeable future.

One thing I noticed is that using the guard stabilizes my mouth position a bit.  When I don't wear it, my jaw moves side to side, which can trigger leaks.  So the guard does double duty in helping me sleep.

[Doublereeder2]

I've worn my night guard for 30+ years. It doesn't stop the bruxism, but it does protect my teeth. 
I've only been in CPAP therapy for 5 months and don't know if the grinding has lessened.  I have read a few articles saying the bruxism is often related to the body's stress from the apneas so maybe it will lessen after using therapy for a while. I plan to keep doing both.

[yankees123]

Have used a night guard for over 20 years and always used it with cpap for the past 6 years.  I get a really bad headache if I don’t wear it to sleep.

[CorruptAlligator]

I don't know if it helpedn but it seems like the mask with the straps and the cervical collar made it worse.

My solution was to avoid full face masks and go with something with least straps as possible. Nasal masks.

Also, I started taking low dosage of Magnesium glycinate and it seems to help relax my muscles.

My isssue is the jaw muscles over-reacting while I'm sleeping. This is why botox is a common treatment for clinching.

[fillmore50]

Thank you, guys. You are awesome.

[CorruptAlligator]

I got an update on my situation. After awhile I knew I had to use a cervical collar, but unfortunately, the most effective cervical collar with the right width has two peaks that points at my jaw (unfortunately, this is a standard collar design). And what this effectively does is cause me to clinch for some reason (because it's pushing up on my jaw and triggering clinching). I can tell because I wake up with pain in my jaw joint.

I've learned to side-sleep the whole night, and when on my left side, the cervical collar causes the right size of the cervical collar to push up on my jaw, and in the morning my right jaw joint would be in pain from clinching.

My solution was to rotate my cervical collar so that the thick portion is hitting my chin, and the low portion is right under my right jaw (to avoid any push up from the cervical collar).

I'm certain now that the cervical collar causes clinching.

I would design the cervical collar to keep the chin from dropping, not pushing up on the jaw.