Hi, hoping for advice from dentist or other professional. I have been grinding my teeth for a long time now, probably since my teens (I'm a 38 yr old woman). I used to have a soft mouthguard (but would chew through them after a few years) and about a year ago got a hard one (it cost abt $600). Whenever I wake up during the night while wearing it, I notice I'm clenching my jaw. Lately I've been having a lot of neck pain and I can feel that my jaw clenching causes neck tension. I've tried some nights not wearing the guard, and when I wake up I notice I'm usually not clenching. I also feel like the mouthguard is harsh on my bottom teeth. I'm generally in decent health and don't smoke. I have gone to PT to try and help with my clenching issue and I also do a lot of mindfulness and meditation. I went to the dentist today and told him I'm not happy with the mouthguard and he offered to either refund me, or make me a mouthguard that's hard outside, but soft at the area where it meets my teeth, my understanding is that it would be free of charge. My questions are:
--do you recommend the hard/soft mouthguard? should I try that, or just take the refund and try with a better dentist once I move? While I think the dentist is OK, i don't think he's that great. For example today I pointed out a spot on my teeth I was worried about, and it's minor decay that needs to be filled, he's just not that thorough and idk if he would have noticed otherwise.
--do you have any recommendations for how to actually stop clenching and grinding my teeth? I feel like it's causing me all sorts of problems and I'd like to work towards stopping. I feel like it'll be a journey and I'll probably need a mouthguard in the meantime.
Thank you for reading this long post. I appreciate your help.