I have been waking up with jaw soreness and stiffness in the mornings for about a year. Since January, I believe this has gotten worse.

I wear my custom night guard religiously every single night. I got this in 2019 for grinding/clenching. I take excellent care of it - cleaning and letting it air dry during the day.

On Monday, I visited the dentist to have a conversation about possible solutions. Botox, new night guard, anything. I just wanted to talk options.

She said do a bunch of jaw exercises, we’ll also adjust your night guard and come back in a few weeks to see how it’s going. I said ok.

Well, the dental assistant adjusted my night guard and grind it down to almost nothing. I said “wow it’s really thin now!?” And she said “if there’s any problems we can just order a new one.” I didn’t think it was that bad. Maybe I would wear it down after a few weeks or months.

Next morning there’s two holes in it. It’s unusable. I can see how THIN she made my night guard.

I called the dentist the next morning (Tuesday) and they said they’ll cover 50% of the cost for a new night guard. I said that’s unacceptable. It’s because of you that my night guard is unusable now?!

The secretary I spoke to was very defensive about the whole thing and it really put me off. She said she’ll talk to the dentist and get back to me. It is now Thursday evening; they haven’t answered me yet and I called them around noon today…

AITAH? How I was raised, if I am responsible for breaking something that does not belong to me, I replace it. It doesn’t matter if I was not the one who broke it. If I borrowed someone’s tool and wore it down so much that it broke during the next use, I am responsible.

I understand the night guard needed adjustment. The problem I have is, should the DA really have ground it SO much?! I am completely open to buying a new night guard. But I never said I wanted to get rid of my old one.