How Do I Stop Drooling With My Night Guard In?

We’ve all had those moments where our sleep was so deep that we woke up with a little puddle of drool on our pillows. It might've been from an unexpected catnap when you dozed off while reading, or a night when you finally got into your REM cycle and slept deeply. 

It might give you a chuckle when it happens occasionally, but when it becomes a regular occurrence after you start wearing a night guard, it's not just annoying — it could be worrisome. Is something wrong?

First, we’ll calm those worries with the assurance that drooling with your night guard happens to many people, and it’s harmless. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to put up with it for the rest of your night guard-wearing life. In this guide, we’ll share the details on why you’re drooling when you wear a night guard, and how you can stop waking up with a puddle on your pillow.

Why Night Guards Can Be a Cause of Drooling (and How to Stop It)

Out of all of our bodily functions, the salivary gland system is probably one of the least thought-about and most underappreciated. Yet, it’s essential to our survival. Without a properly functioning salivary system, we lose our ability to chew and swallow food, digest what we’ve eaten, and flush bacteria and debris out of our mouths.

Oh, yes. And we can’t spit or drool.

It might sound silly, but these two things are survival tools. Drooling and spitting help you get rid of irritants, like when you accidentally put something dangerous (or unpleasant-tasting) in your mouth. 

Drooling also keeps soft tissues moist, preventing cracking and drying and providing a barrier against pathogens. But when you’re drooling too much, it can be a warning sign that there’s something under the surface that needs to be addressed.

Why We Drool in Our Sleep

Awake, you use your facial muscles and active swallowing to keep your drooling in check. But when you fall asleep, all your muscles relax, and you don’t swallow as much, especially if you’re a mouth-breather. 

For the most part, your body has this under control, swallowing just enough so that you breathe normally and don’t drool. However, some factors, such as sinus issues, certain medications, sleep apnea, and sleeping on your side, can increase saliva production. In your case, so can wearing a night guard!

How Night Guards Exacerbate Drooling (and What You Can Do About It)

Night guards, by design, keep your teeth from touching. This prevention ensures your jaw muscles can’t fully engage to clench and your enamel stays safe from grinding. If your lips don’t close completely, saliva can leak out. This side effect is usually temporary and resolves within a few weeks with consistent use.

The Foreign Object Alert

Your brain turns on the saliva production system when it senses you have something in your mouth that shouldn’t be there (survival mode at its best). When you first start wearing your night guard, your body sees it as a foreign object, which can lead to extra drooling. 

But if this continues beyond a few days, it might be a night guard design issue. If your guard is too thick or has excess material toward the back of your mouth, it pushes on your palate and triggers your salivary system. 

The solution doesn’t have to be to add towels under your head when you sleep. You might just need a thinner night guard, like JS Dental Lab’s soft or dual laminate (hybrid) design. Thinner guards fit closely around the teeth and stay off the roof of the mouth, minimizing triggers to salivary glands.

Side note: Some people have hypersalivation, a condition that causes excessive saliva production, while others have dry mouth (xerostomia), in which saliva production is limited. Both of these conditions should be medically managed.

A Sensitive Gag Reflex

Besides the survival mode that causes you to try to expel your night guard, you might have a sensitive gag reflex. The two are not connected, but when the gag reflex is triggered, swallowing is disrupted, leading to pooling and drooling.

The upper guards cover the palate and upper teeth for a secure fit, keeping the oral appliance snugly in place. The downside of this is that it can irritate a sensitive gag reflex. On the other hand, lower guards allow more tongue movement and are often recommended for those with greater oral sensitivity.

A Sore Jaw

Is your drooling accompanied by a sore jaw? If so, it could be that your night guard isn’t fitting right. 

Off-the-shelf guards, like boil-and-bite versions, can force teeth into unnatural (misaligned) positions. This puts strain on the jaw muscles and the temporomandibular joints (TMJ), leading to excess saliva production as a protective response. If your night guard slips when you wear it, causes bite changes, or shows signs of uneven wear, your drooling could be related to it.

Professional, high-quality dental appliances, like those at JS Dental Lab, fit the nooks and crannies of your teeth perfectly, minimizing strain and letting your saliva flow naturally. 

There are a couple of temporary causes of night guard drooling that could be “easy” fixes. If you’re a side sleeper, changing your sleeping position can also minimize drool production. Having a sinus infection can increase mouth breathing, so your problem might resolve quickly once you treat your illness.

How to Know When Your Symptoms Are Normal (or Not)

Night guards can cause short-term adjustment symptoms, but they should go away. Common side effects of wearing a night guard include discomfort for a few days, mild soreness, and light drooling.

But when these problems persist, it may be time to refit or replace your night guard. Consider this list of warning signs that shouldn’t be ignored:

• Teeth shifting or bite feeling "off" during the day
• Severe jaw/TMJ pain, headaches, or clicking
• Guard slipping, falling out, or uneven wear

Track your symptoms for a week, and talk to your dentist if these signs persist.

Tips For the Adjustment Period of Wearing a Night Guard

It takes about two weeks for your mouth to adjust to the new night guard. Most symptoms appear during the first 48 hours, but the more consistently you wear your guard, the sooner these effects should go away.

Throughout this adjustment period, you’ll notice discomfort because the pressure on your teeth and gums feels unusual at first. 

Minor soreness in your teeth and gums is normal! You may also wake up throughout the night as your brain alerts your body to this “foreign object,” and your tongue tries to dislodge the night guard. Normal! Even a small amount of drooling pooling around the edge of your mouth is perfectly normal, especially if you’re a side sleeper or mouth breather.

Tips to Reduce Night Guard Symptoms

To minimize how long these symptoms last, try wearing your night guard for 15-20 minutes at a time throughout the day. This gradual wear practice acclimates your brain to the device, making it less of a foreign object to be rejected. 

Helping your mind relax before you try to sleep helps, too. A relaxing bedtime routine reduces excess stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline, and replaces them with dopamine and serotonin. When your brain is at rest, it’s less likely to send signals to your jaw to clench and grind. 

Keep your night guard clean to prevent bacterial buildup, which can create an uneven surface that increases jaw tension (and, therefore, your grinding). Stay consistent with wearing your new guard, and within the first 1-2 weeks, you should notice symptoms improving. 

What To Do if You Don’t See an Improvement in Your Night Guard Drooling Side Effect

You’ve done all the things, and you still just can’t get comfortable wearing your night guard. The drool is irritating, and you're not getting enough sleep. What’s next?

The answer depends on where you got your night guard from. 

Replace or Repair Your Night Guard

At JS Dental Lab, we offer free adjustments to the fit until we get it perfect for you. However, if you got yours from your dentist, read the fine print on the instructions that came with your device, or contact them directly. A simple tweak to the material to improve its fit could be all you need. 

And if you’ve had your night guard for a while but it’s warping or cracking, the lab you purchased it from should have your impressions on file (like at JS Dental Lab), possibly giving you a discount on your next order. 

But if you bought an over-the-counter night guard, it may be time to invest in a high-quality, professional-grade version. Boil-and-bite mouth guards tend to be bulkier and less durable. These don’t work well for those with sensitive palates. Opt for a soft night guard if you’re a mild grinder or a hybrid (dual-laminate) for more moderate grinding with a comfortable fit. 

Try Exercising the Jaw

If your jaw is still sore but the night guard fits well, jaw exercises can help. These movements focus on stretching and strengthening the jaw, neck, and shoulder muscles to relieve discomfort and tightness. 

Unlike many exercises, teeth grinding movements shouldn’t be exerting you. Movements such as strategic jaw relaxation, controlled opening and closing, and the chin tuck improve range of motion, decrease clenching, and reduce stress in the masticatory (chewing) muscles. 

However, if you have other oral health issues, such as a TMJ disorder (TMD) or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), it’s important to talk to your doctor before beginning any jaw exercise routine.

Get to the Root of Your Bruxing

Remember, the night guard doesn’t stop the behavior. It minimizes damage to your teeth. You’ll still be clenching and grinding until you figure out what’s causing your bruxism.

There is no immediate finger-pointing about what causes teeth grinding, but research shows that stress is the number one reason for bruxism. In fact, since the COVID-19 pandemic, bruxism diagnoses have skyrocketed due to an increase in anxiety and stress. 

If you’ve been dealing with a lot of pressure or anxious thoughts, relaxation techniques such as journaling, yoga, meditation, and outdoor walks may help reduce your grinding as you work to resolve the stressful issues.

Other common causes of bruxism include:

• Genetics (if your ancestors were bruxers, it might be in your DNA)
• Overuse of stimulants, including caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, illicit drugs, or certain ADHD medications
• Personality traits, such as competitiveness and tendencies to be high-strung or aggressive
• Neurological disorders, including Parkinson's, Huntington's disease, epilepsy, or dementia
• Malocclusion or bad bite
• Age (bruxism is common in children, but typically resolves as they grow into adults)

Whatever the reason for your grinding behaviors, if you solve them, your need for a night guard may go away, too — taking the excess drooling with it automatically!

Conclusion

Waking up to find a puddle of drool on your pillow may not be ideal, especially when you're already adjusting to sleeping with a night guard new in your mouth. But rest assured, this is a normal part of the night guard adjustment process.

One of the most effective solutions is to invest in a custom-fit night guard that does the job without extra material or discomfort. Visit JS Dental Lab and let our professionals help you get back to less jaw pain and a restful night’s sleep without the drool today!