night guard

Every night guard case begins at the prescription stage. When you submit, you choose the construction type: hard acrylic for heavy bruxers with documented occlusal wear, soft single-layer for mild parafunction or short-term use, or dual-laminate for patients who need the cushion of a soft inner layer with the rigidity of a hard outer shell. That choice drives the entire fabrication path, so we need it stated on the Rx before the case enters the queue. If a prescription arrives without a type selected, your technician calls within two business hours, not two days. Pour-and-trim follows a defined sequence using vacuum-formed pressure lamination for dual-laminate constructions and heat-cure acrylic compression molding for hard appliances. We do not use cold-cure acrylic as a primary material on protective appliances because the porosity differential after polymerization affects long-term stain resistance and dimensional stability. The pour is trimmed to the sulcus depth specified on the Rx, then hand-polished through a three-stage pumice-and-lathe sequence that brings all occlusal and incisal surfaces to a 0.1 mm verified tolerance using a calibrated micrometer log. Occlusal verification is the step most labs skip or perform only visually. At Dani Dental every night guard is articulated on the opposing model before it leaves the bench. A technician checks centric stops, lateral excursion contacts, and protrusive clearance in the articulator before the case is bagged. If the articulation shows a premature contact, the appliance goes back to the bench for equilibration. It does not ship with a sticky note telling you to adjust it chairside. Packaging is designed for the clinical workflow, not just transit. The appliance ships in a labeled case with the patient name, construction type, and technician initials on the bag. The case is nested inside a protective outer box with the written QC log and a brief delivery note from the technician who built it. That note gives you the direct phone extension for the bench technician, so if you seat the appliance and have a fit question, you are calling the person who made it, not a customer service queue. Rush fabrication at a 3-business-day timeline is available for an additional flat fee noted on the current fee schedule. Rush cases require a clean, full-arch impression or a digital scan file in .STL format received before 10 a.m. Arizona time to count against the same calendar day. Digital scan submission via iTero, 3Shape Trios, or Medit formats is accepted and eliminates shipping delay on the impression leg entirely, which is how most Arizona practices requesting rush delivery now submit their night guard cases.