This is the story of how a simple dentist appointment launched me into a decade-long journey to develop something that did not seem to exist in the world: a natural nighttime mouthguard (or nightguard).

It was 2011 and time for my twice-annual dental check up and teeth cleaning. After examining my teeth, my dentist told me that he saw signs that my teeth were wearing down as a result of grinding my teeth at night (a condition called bruxism). He recommended I purchase a mouthguard to protect my teeth while I sleep.

Heeding my dentist’s advice, I went to my local pharmacy to buy a mouthguard. 

As I looked over the various shapes that I could choose from, something wasn’t sitting right. 

The search for a natural mouthguard — a better alternative for my body

I’m very conscious of what I put into my body, and plastic is something I’ve always tried to keep out of it. I’m the type of person who doesn’t microwave my food in a plastic container or pour hot food into a plastic serving dish or storage container—for fear that the heated plastic might leach into my food. And that the leached plastic in my food might harm my body.

You can probably guess what wasn’t sitting right with me at the pharmacy that day… 

Yep, all of the nighttime mouthguard options were made of some form of plastic. The thought of sleeping for eight hours every night with plastic in my mouth (err, more specifically my 98.6 degree Fahrenheit mouth) was just not going to happen. So I left the pharmacy empty-handed, figuring that I’d just order a non-plastic option online when I got home.

Natural mouthguards — a better alternative for the planet

On my way home, I felt good about my decision to skip out on the plastic mouthguards available at the pharmacy. “Not only will this decision be better for my body,” I thought. “But it will also be better for the planet.” The plastic mouthguards that I just walked away from would take thousands of years to decompose, polluting the environment along the way.

I didn’t want to contribute to that.

The search for a natural night guard continued

I consider myself an above-average Google searcher. If something exists and is reasonably findable on the web, I can generally find it. 

But I could not find a single natural alternative to the many plastic night guards available online.

I was shocked.

The decision to develop a natural nighttime mouthguard

I was shocked that every mouthguard on the market seemed to be made of plastic. 

My teeth were wearing away, and yet I still couldn’t bring myself to use a plastic mouthguard. After a few more nights of teeth grinding, I said to myself, “I’m going to use a natural mouthguard, even if it means I have to develop one myself.” 

Ten years later… it’s finally happening 

It turns out that developing a natural mouthguard is not easy—especially when you also have a more-than-full-time job and challenges in your personal life—but that’s a topic for a future post. 

The important thing is that the natural mouthguard will be a reality.

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