If you grind or clench at night, the first thing most people reach for is a drugstore boil-and-bite guard — a few dollars, no waiting, done in one evening. The problem is durability and fit: a generic mold made from a thin plastic tray tends to wear through in months, not years, and it was never shaped around your actual bite in the first place. If you’ve gone through a couple of drugstore guards already and you’re tired of replacing them, the next step up is a lab-made custom guard — built from an actual impression or digital scan of your teeth, the same starting material a dentist’s office would use.
Two established direct-to-consumer options in this space are Sentinel Mouthguards and Pro Teeth Guard. Both skip the in-office dental visit and let you get a lab-made guard shipped to you, but they differ in submission process and price tier.
Reviewed by a licensed dental professional.
The options
Sentinel Mouthguards
Sentinel is a US-based custom dental lab.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| HSA/FSA eligible on qualifying products | If you don’t have a scan, it’s an at-home impression kit, same as most competitors |
| 100-night guarantee, including up to three fit attempts | No published lowest price point found — compare your actual quote against Pro Teeth Guard’s |
| Over a decade in business, guards hand-finished in-house |
Pro Teeth Guard
Pro Teeth Guard is a direct competitor in the same custom-lab category.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Clear, published pricing — from $179.99 as of September 2026 | No digital-scan option found — impression-kit only |
| 60-day guarantee with a “110% refund” for fit/comfort issues | |
| Direct from dental lab, over a decade in business | |
| 1-year warranty for breakage or wear-through |
Who should use which
| Sentinel Mouthguards | Pro Teeth Guard | |
|---|---|---|
| Good fit for | Anyone who wants the longest possible trial window, or values independently-verified press recognition | Anyone who wants exact pricing up front rather than a quote process |
| Consider avoiding if | You need the absolute lowest price and haven’t compared a real quote | |
| Either way, avoid if | You have symptoms beyond simple grinding (jaw pain, headaches, visibly worn teeth) — see a dentist in person instead | (same) |
Our pick
Sentinel Mouthguards. Both brands appear in independent roundups, so this is closer than it looks. Sentinel gets the edge for its longer 100-night guarantee with up to three fit attempts and HSA/FSA eligibility on qualifying products. Pro Teeth Guard wins on up-front pricing and a 110% refund if you return within 60 days.
(One source worth naming and discarding: a direct “Sentinel vs. Pro Teeth Guard” comparison exists online, but it’s published by Sentinel Mouthguards itself — a competitor writing about its own rival isn’t a neutral tiebreaker, so it wasn’t used as evidence here.)
Pro Teeth Guard is still a legitimate option with transparent, published pricing.
One thing to expect with either option
A new custom guard can feel unusual in the mouth for the first several nights — more saliva than usual, and mild jaw tension as your bite adjusts to holding the guard’s shape. That’s normal and typically settles within one to two weeks. If a guard is actively painful, shifts your bite noticeably, or the discomfort doesn’t ease up after that window, stop wearing it and get the fit checked rather than pushing through — a poorly fitting guard can do more harm than not wearing one at all.
The bottom line
A custom lab-made guard isn’t just about comfort — a poor-fitting drugstore guard that shifts at night can be worse than no guard at all for some grinding patterns. If you’ve been through the drugstore cycle a few times already, either of these is a reasonable step up. If you have symptoms beyond simple grinding (jaw pain, headaches, visibly worn teeth), that’s worth a real dental visit regardless of which guard you choose.
- Check Sentinel Mouthguards’ current pricing →
- Check Pro Teeth Guard’s current pricing on their website.
Disclosure: Cabinet of Care may earn a commission from purchases made through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we’ve researched and believe in.