DenTekUltimate Guard for Nighttime Teeth Grinding

It has an innovative design that fits my narrow palate very well. The molding process isn’t intuitive, so be sure to read and follow the instructions carefully. I find it very comfortable—it effectively protects my teeth and is completely tasteless. I’m surprised it doesn’t have better reviews; it may simply have a smaller fit than most mouth guards.

I bought this mouth guard last fall, because I was having tooth pain from grinding in my sleep. It worked great for a while as it’s small and comfortable but I did have issues with it staying in place. I woke up a few times when it had fallen out and I was chewing on it in my sleep, but I didn’t think much of it.Until the fateful night, I woke up at 3 am seconds after having swallowed the mouth guard. I felt it go down my throat and then felt it LODGE ITSELF IN MY ESOPHAGUS. This was incredibly painful.Every time I swallowed I could feel my saliva sit on top of the lodged mouth guard before painfully making its way past. I could literally feel exactly where it was sitting in my chest. I ended up having to go to the ER to having the foreign object removed from my esophagus. Luckily it didn’t do any damage to my esophagus and it was removed in a 4 minute procedure, but OH MY GOD DO NOT BUT THIS PRODUCT. It costed me a couple thousand dollars after insurance in hospital bills to remove. It is way too small and does not stay in place well enough.It is not worth it just buy a bigger bulkier one. Sure the bulkier ones aren’t as comfortable but let me tell you what’s uncomfortable. HAVING A PIECE OF PLASTIC LODGED IN YOUR ESOPHAGUS.

Directions were well written although I suggest an initial read then follow them step by step during the fitting process as I missed a few things in the initial read. In my 1000 watt microwave, it took 4 mins 40 seconds to get the water in a ceramic mug to boil. At the first hard bite down, the guard felt odd/misaligned but since the front teeth alignment tool was dead on, I just clamped down. It now seems to fit and secure nicely to my teeth and is obviously less intrusive then anything I've worn before. Fingers crossed that its a keeper and doesn't interfere with my sleep.

Easy to use although I haven’t managed to make it through the night wearing it because it’s somewhat bothersome. I haven’t tried another guard so I’m unsure what to compare it to.

It's really thick, and when it shrinks, for me it ahrunk kinda small even though I only did it for the time it said I risk choking on it

I had used two previous night guards, one made by my dentist ($750) and one bought from an online teeth guard company ($150). The $750 one was hard and very uncomfortable. The $150 one was better but still uncomfortable. I gave the Dentek Ultimate Guard a try because of its small footprint and low cost.Unfortunately, this guard also gets a fail for three reasons. First, after boiling, it only makes an impression of the upper teeth. The bottom side where the lower teeth meet the guard is flat. As a result, the lower jaw slides around against the night guard, causing misalignment in my bite. I feel that this could potentially cause problems for me down the road as I previously had braces to carefully align my bite. My other more expensive mouth guards have impressions on both surfaces keeping my bite aligned all night.The second problem, as other reviews have mentioned, is that the piece connecting the two sides is rough and uncomfortable.The third problem arose after I tried to re-boil the guard in order to make an impression for my lower teeth on the flat bottom surface of the guard. Boiling it a second time without the white tray holding the guard totally mangled the guard to the point where it was unusable. For me, this guard is a total failure. I threw it away and went back to using my $150 guard. As many reviewers mentioned, making the first impression worked well by using a pot of boiling water instead of the cup of water in the microwave. Here's what worked for me... Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, reduce the heat, and put the guard (attached to the white tray) face down in the pot. Hold the tray down with a fork for four minutes. Take the guard out of the pot, checking the temperature of the white tray carefully with your fingers to make sure it will not burn your mouth. The blue guard will stay soft for a time even while the harder white tray cools. Once you determine that it will not burn your mouth, put the white tray with the blue guard inside against the upper teeth and bite down for two minutes. Put the guard in a room temperature bowl of water for 5 minutes to set. Pull the blue guard off the white tray.In conclusion, I give this guard two stars for its low cost and minimal footprint. For those that would not mind their lower teeth sliding around against the flat bottom, you can give it a try. Unfortunately, for me it goes into the trash due to the risk of bite misalignment, uncomfortable connecting piece, and completely ruining the guard by boiling it a second time.