Night Guards for Teeth Grinding in Edinburgh
If you wake with a stiff or sore jaw or a headache, or someone has told you that you grind your teeth in your sleep, a night guard may help. It is a removable guard, made to cover all your upper or lower teeth and worn at night, that protects them from the wear and breakage grinding can cause. At City Dental Care on Earl Grey Street, the examination covers your bite, your jaw joints and signs of grinding or clenching, and your dentist will tell you honestly whether a guard is worth having: treatment for grinding is not always needed.
Transparent pricing
Night Guards (hard splint) £200 per guard (incl. fitting)Soft splint, if your dentist prescribes one: £135 to £200 per guard (incl. fitting)Our private fees; also on the NHS for registered patients
Whatever your dentist recommends is quoted in writing before it is booked.
Signs You Might Be Grinding or Clenching
Grinding and clenching can happen while you are awake or asleep, and many people who grind their teeth in their sleep don't realise they do it. The first clue is often one of these:
- A partner telling you they hear you grinding in your sleep
- Stiff or sore jaw muscles when you wake up
- Headaches, especially in the morning
- Teeth or fillings that are worn, cracked or broken
- Teeth that have become sore or sensitive
- Pain in your jaw, face or ear
- Ridges on the insides of your cheeks, or tooth marks along the sides of your tongue
- Disturbed sleep
What Causes Teeth Grinding?
It isn't always clear why people grind their teeth. NHS advice is that it is often linked to stress and anxiety, the most common cause, and also to sleep problems such as snoring and sleep apnoea, taking medicines for sleep problems, depression or anxiety, smoking, and drinking a lot of alcohol or caffeine.
Grinding in your sleep is driven by brain activity during sleep that you have no control over, and you may find it is worse when you are not sleeping well.
What a Night Guard Does, and What It Doesn't
A night guard (you may also hear it called a mouth guard, bite guard, occlusal splint or bruxism splint, bruxism being the medical name for teeth grinding) is made by a dentist to fit over your upper or lower teeth and is worn while you sleep. Its job is protection: it helps protect your teeth from wear and fracture, and it can help with pain from grinding.
It isn't a cure for grinding. NHS patient information explains that there is no way of stopping the brain signals that trigger grinding in your sleep, so a guard protects your teeth while it happens rather than switching it off. NHS advice on reducing grinding includes finding ways to relax, improving your sleep, not smoking, and not drinking too much alcohol or caffeine.
Nor is a guard a cure for jaw joint problems. Grinding is linked with temporomandibular disorder (TMD), but TMD has other causes too, including stress, wear and tear of the joint, a blow to the head or face and an uneven bite, and it usually gets better without treatment. If jaw pain is your main problem, your dentist will examine your jaw and explain whether a guard is likely to help.
Is a Night Guard Right for Me?
NHS advice is to see a dentist if you grind your teeth and have tooth damage, sensitive teeth, or pain in your jaw, face or ear, or if your partner says you grind in your sleep. That is what a check-up is for. The examination looks at how your teeth meet, for signs of grinding or clenching, and at your jaw joints. Sore or sensitive teeth can have other causes, such as decay or gum disease, so they are worth having checked either way. If grinding has already chipped or broken a tooth or a filling, repairing it is a treatment of its own, such as a new filling or a crown, and your dentist will talk you through it. If a guard would help, your dentist will say so and explain why; if it wouldn't, you'll hear that too.
If you mostly clench during the day, a guard worn at night won't help with that. Daytime clenching is a habit that can be broken with practice: NHS advice is to keep your jaw muscles relaxed and your teeth apart except when you are eating, and to find ways to relax.
Your GP can help with some causes of grinding, such as stress, anxiety, smoking or drinking too much. If someone has noticed that your breathing stops and starts while you sleep, or that you make gasping, snorting or choking noises, see your GP: these can be symptoms of sleep apnoea, which can be serious if it isn't diagnosed and treated. NHS advice on jaw problems is to ask for an urgent GP appointment if, for example, you are unable to eat or drink, your jaw is locking, or you have problems with your vision; if your GP practice is closed and it can't wait, phone NHS 24 on 111.
How a Night Guard Is Made and Fitted
Examination: your dentist checks your teeth, bite and jaw joints and asks about your symptoms. If a guard is recommended, it is quoted in writing before it is booked.
Recording your teeth: a digital scan of your teeth is taken so the guard can be made to fit your mouth. Nothing is done to the teeth themselves.
Making the guard: it is made from that record to cover all the teeth in your upper or lower jaw, whichever your dentist advises. Our standard night guard is a hard splint, because heavy grinding can chew through a soft one; a soft or semi-hard splint is made only if your dentist advises one for you. It is usually back from the lab the same week, and we'll book your fitting when it's ready.
Fitting: the fit, and the way your teeth meet against the guard, are checked and adjusted if needed.
Hard or Soft Night Guard?
The two main types of night guard are hard splints and soft splints. A 2018 review for dentists found that people who grind can wear holes in soft splints fairly easily, so they may need replacing often, and that soft splints may change the way the teeth meet. Guidance for dentists from the Royal College of Surgeons of England (2025) adds that soft splints may make jaw joint pain worse, so if one is used it should be short term and reviewed regularly.
For jaw pain itself, the same guidance says neither type has been shown to work better than the other, and nor has a guard on the upper teeth over one on the lower. So for someone who grinds, what matters most is a guard that lasts: that is why our standard night guard is a hard splint, which stands up to grinding, and a soft one is made only when your dentist prescribes it for you.
Whichever type you have, the guidance is that a splint should be checked at your routine check-ups for fit and for any change to your bite, and replaced if it is damaged or badly worn.
How Much Does a Night Guard Cost?
Private night guards are hard splints as standard, £200 per guard, including the fitting: a hard splint stands up to grinding, where a soft one can be chewed through. If your dentist advises and prescribes a soft splint for you instead, it is £135 to £200 per guard, including the fitting. Those are our private fees, as they appear on our published price list, and whatever your dentist recommends is quoted in writing before it is booked.
For new patients the examination normally comes first: a private new patient examination is £85, including X-rays. If you are already a private patient, you can raise grinding at your routine examination (£55, including X-rays). NHS examinations are free for everyone in Scotland, and night guards are also provided on the NHS for patients registered with the practice (see below).
Night Guards on the NHS in Scotland
Night guards (occlusal splints) are provided on the NHS for patients registered with the practice, and our NHS list is open with no waiting list. NHS Scotland sets the charges: you pay 80% of the cost, capped at £384 for a single course of treatment, and under-26s, pregnant women and new mothers, and people on certain benefits pay nothing.
On the fee scale in force from 1 November 2025, if you pay NHS charges, a laboratory-made hard splint is £127.12 and a laboratory-made soft splint is £60.76. An NHS hard splint is made from study models (a copy of your teeth, taken from a mould or scan); if new ones are needed, they are £29.92 a set. These are NHS Scotland's charges, not our fees, and your dentist will tell you before any treatment which type of guard you need, whether it's NHS or private, and what it costs.
The first step is an NHS examination, which is free. A refundable £10 holding fee is taken if you book it online; phone bookings carry none.
How to Look After Your Night Guard
A guard only protects your teeth while it is in, so wear it as your dentist advises. Softer guards can wear through quickly, while harder ones tend to last longer; if yours is looking thin or worn, mention it at your next check-up.
- Clean it every day, for example when you take it out in the morning and brush your teeth, using a toothbrush or denture brush and water
- Keep it in a firm case when it is not in your mouth, out of reach of children and pets
- Keep it away from heat, which can change its shape
- If it cracks or breaks, stop wearing it and contact us; don't try to glue it. We don't repair guards, so a damaged one is replaced
- If it starts to feel loose, tight or uncomfortable, let us know: a guard that doesn't fit properly can cause problems with your teeth or gums
- Keep up your regular dental check-ups
If you want to clean it in a machine as well, we sell the Zima Dental Pod, an ultrasonic cleaner for removable appliances such as night guards, retainers, aligners and dentures. We are an official Zima Dental reseller: the pod is £69.99 and £7.99 for a pack of 30 cleaning tablets, bought at the practice. It sits alongside the daily brush above, and your guard does not need one.
Book a Check-Up
Book a check-up online, or call 0131 228 2442; we are open until 8pm Monday to Thursday, and until 5pm on Friday. If you already have a check-up booked, just mention grinding when you come in.
If grinding has broken a tooth and it hurts, call us the same day: a broken tooth is one of the problems we treat as an emergency. A small chip with no pain can wait for a normal appointment. When we're closed and it can't wait, phone NHS 24 on 111.
