Subtle differences

This is part three of the ongoing saga of my jaw. The dentist presented me on Wednesday with the new! improved! mouthguard (on the left).



You'd hardly think these were for the same person, would you? My previous post describing what the dentist found objectionable in the old mouthguard, omitted the most significant difference (or perhaps he hadn't bothered to say). The new one is for the upper jaw, whereas the other one was for the lower jaw.

They are different in other ways too. The older was u-shaped in cross-section, it wrapped around my teeth down to the gums on both sides; the new one has just enough wrap-around to grasp hold of the crowns (except at the outside front, where it covers the incisors nearly to the gums). Another difference is at the inside front: there is a little "ledge" hollowed out behind the front teeth, where my lower teeth rest when my mouth is closed. I hadn't really noticed when wearing the older one (but do notice now), how the absence of this feature prevented me from closing my mouth properly: the thickness of the material held my lower jaw back from its normal position. I can't say that I feel any other difference between them yet.

I went back yesterday to have it reamed out a little, because it was pressing against my incisors on the left side, and asked the technician what the green spots were for. She replied with a touch of embarrassment, that they show how to wear the thing, by pointing out where your eye teeth go. This is hard to believe, because there is only one possible way to wear the mouthguard. I suspect that they are purely decorative, and further that they are related to the green tints in her punk-blonde hair.