Are you noticing facial, head, and neck pain when you wake up? Have your teeth become shorter and flatter over the years? If so, you might be battling bruxism — unconscious clenching and grinding of the teeth. More than 20% of U.S. adults have some level of bruxism, and over time, it can cause a lot of damage.
Mail-order night guards (also called mouth guards) can reduce the severity of your bruxism and stop the damage it causes. ClearClub is just one of several companies that sells customized night guards online. The question is: are they the right provider for you? By the end of this review, you’ll have all the information you need to make a confident decision!
Table of Contents
How Do Night Guards Work?
Clenching and grinding the teeth can cause a lot of physical damage. While you can feel the pain and the side effects of poor sleep throughout your body, injuries primarily affect the teeth and temporomandibular joint (TMJ).
Night guards help stop the harm bruxism causes for these two parts of the body by creating space between the teeth. This doesn’t stop you from clenching or grinding your teeth, but it can limit or even stop the damage that comes from it, depending on exactly how your bruxism presents. By keeping the teeth 1–3 millimeters apart, it prevents them from grinding against each other, and this small amount of space takes pressure off the jaw joint if you clench.
It’s a small change that makes a big difference. But getting the right results relies on selecting the correct night guard for your needs and preferences. Below are the four primary types of night guards you will find online and who they are usually best for.
- Soft Night Guards: These are flexible guards that are usually about three millimeters thick. They are ideal for people who clench their teeth at night and/or have light grinding.
- Single Layer Hard Night Guards: Also called retainer-style night guards, these have one layer of rigid material and are typically one millimeter thick or less. You can wear them at night or during the day if you have mild-to-moderate clenching and grinding.
- Dual Laminate Night Guards: Commonly called hybrid night guards, these combine a hard outer layer with a soft inner layer, striking a blend between flexibility and rigidity. They are usually three millimeters thick — one millimeter of soft material and two millimeters of rigid material. This type of guard is good for severe grinding and clenching.
- Hard Flexible Night Guard: This is similar to the hybrid option, except it uses a single layer of hard plastic that has some give to it. These are usually three millimeters thick and suitable for severe grinding and clenching.
No matter which type of night guard you purchase, it won’t last forever. Sometimes, they can last up to five years with proper care, but many people need to replace theirs every 3–6 months due to the severity of their clenching and grinding. Be sure to inspect yours with every use to make sure it is in good shape and safe to wear.
Pros and Cons of ClearClub
ClearClub is our number-four choice for mail-order night guards. They offer some of the best prices in the industry, give you more options for customization than other providers, and let you subscribe to save. They aren’t perfect, but they’re a solid option for anyone seeking bruxism relief. To help you better understand what ClearClub has to offer, here are their biggest pros and cons.
ClearClub Advantages
- Ultra-Low Subscription-Based Price: Their one-time purchase price is just average, but if you subscribe, you can save a lot. Only Cheeky offers lower prices, but that’s just for the most expensive models.
- Aesthetic Variety: Your average night guard looks like a clear aligner or sports guard. It’s discreet, but if you’re only wearing it at home, why not have a little fun? ClearClub has different patterns and colors, adding a little self-expression to your oral healthcare routine.
- Quality Customer Service: While no company is perfect and there’s always a small chance things can go wrong, ClearClub offers solid support. According to customers, the ClearClub team is responsive, informed, and helpful.
- Control Over Frequency: Some subscription-based services lock you into a specific timeframe. ClearClub gets that your night guards might last slightly longer, so they let you set your shipments to every three, four, or six months.
ClearClub Disadvantages
- Retaking Impressions: ClearClub only keeps your impressions on file if you have an active subscription. Otherwise, you’ll need to take new impressions each time you reorder your guards.
- No Quiz: Most of us aren’t natural night guard experts. If you haven’t used them before, you might struggle to figure out which material and thickness are right for you. Unfortunately, ClearClub doesn’t have a quiz to help you decide.
- Functional Variety: ClearClub has five different night guards you can choose from, but functionally, there aren’t many differences between them. In some cases, they are identical besides their colors and patterns.
Who Is a Good Match for ClearClub?
If you want the convenience of a subscription-based service, love the look of colored night guards, or just want to save money, ClearClub could be a perfect fit for you. Just keep in mind that their variety is limited, though they somewhat make up for it by letting you select the thickness of some models.
Quality
If there is one feature a night guard must-have, it’s quality. If it doesn’t help alleviate your bruxism symptoms, it’s a poor investment. Luckily, ClearClub offers pretty excellent quality overall.
Although they’re a young company, ClearClub has already worked with more than 30,000 customers to date.
This makes them one of the most prolific night guard companies on the market, only surpassed by those like Pro Teeth Guard, which also work with dentists. This means they are highly experienced at crafting night guards, and that expertise goes into every guard they make.
ClearClub makes all their night guards from high-quality dental-grade materials.
They strictly use dental-grade, FDA-approved materials in their night guards. The guards are also latex-free, BPA-free, and non-allergenic, making them a viable option for pretty much anyone. They produce all their night guards in the United States in certified facilities.
You can select the thickness best suited to your bruxism needs.
Some ClearClub night guards let you choose the thickness based on your comfort level, plus the severity of your clenching and grinding. Their thinnest night guard option is 1.3 millimeters, which is best for light clenching and grinding. Their two-millimeter option is ideal for people who have moderate bruxism while their three-millimeter thickness is best for severe cases.
The one downside with ClearClub is that you need to replace their night guards at least once every six months.
All night guards will eventually need to be replaced, either from damage or accumulated, unremovable plaque. However, professional-quality night guards usually last at least a year, and sometimes up to five. This is part of how patients justify their cost. You need to replace your ClearClub guards every 3–6 months. This can add up in terms of price, but at the same time, you know the guard you wear in your mouth every night is ultra-clean and fresh, so is this really a downside? That’s up to you.
Affordability
Quality determines whether a night guard is worth buying, but price determines if you can make it work with your budget. ClearClub offers a pretty solid deal, though it depends on how you look at it.
ClearClub focuses on their subscription, which costs $45–$65 every three months.
This means that with their lower-cost night guards (if you get new ones every three months), they are actually the most affordable service on the market. Cheeky comes close, and their pricier models are slightly cheaper. Still, if price is your driving factor and you are open to a subscription, ClearClub can save you a lot of money.
They allow you to make one-time purchases of $135–$155 as well, depending on the model you choose. We would still go with the subscription option, though, since they don’t charge you to cancel. You can see how it works for you, and if it’s not right for you, there’s no penalty for changing your mind.
You can use your HSA and FSA cards at checkout or apply for reimbursement.
If you have an HSA or FSA account, just get your card ready when it is time to check out. Just input the info and you can use your funds to pay for your ClearClub night guards. If you don’t have a card, you can also complete your purchase, then file for reimbursement.
Unfortunately, ClearClub does not work directly with insurance — which is pretty standard for the industry. However, the same documentation you’d use for FSA and HSA reimbursement works for insurance as well.
Convenience
As a busy adult, you aren’t looking to complicate your life by using night guards — your busy schedule might even be part of the stress contributing to your bruxism! Luckily, ClearClub is pretty easy to use, though it comes with a few complications.
The most difficult part with any mail-order night guards is taking your impressions.
Most of us haven’t had the chance to take our own dental impressions before, and that means you’ll encounter a bit of a learning curve getting started with ClearClub. That’s the case no matter which brand you get, but it can still be frustrating. Watch some tutorials first and go through ClearClub’s detailed instructions before trying it on your own.
Ordering is pretty simple, but managing your subscription can get complicated.
On the surface, managing your ClearClub subscription is pretty easy. When you order, you just select the shipment interval you want — every three, four, or six months. But the hiccup here is that once you get started, you might discover that the interval you selected was too long or too short.
You can adjust it any time — but it’s not always easy. You have to reach out to the company directly and have the customer service department make the change; there is no dashboard feature for you to do this yourself. However, they can delay your next shipment as long as it doesn’t fall outside the six-month timeframe, or they can ship out your next night guard sooner. Just keep in mind that the less frequent your shipments, the higher the cost.
In addition to adjusting the frequency of your shipments, you can ask the customer service team to change other things about your subscription, including the model of guard, color, and thickness.
ClearClub manufactures and ships your aligners pretty efficiently.
Once you place your order, it should take about 3–5 business days for your kit to arrive. We suggest you take them the same day you receive the kit and pop them in the mail that day or the next to avoid delays. Once ClearClub receives your impressions and confirms they are suitable, they’ll create and ship your guards within five business days. Shipping once again takes about 3–5 business days. This means most people get their guards in about 15–20 days.
They will keep your impressions on file for up to two years.
This means that if you cancel and then start your subscription again, or make multiple one-time purchases, you can skip the inconvenience of taking more impressions for up to two years. Unfortunately, ClearClub does not digitize their impressions, so once the molds dry out, they can no longer use them.
Variety
Night guards aren’t one-size-fits-all — and this goes beyond making them match the mold of your teeth. You need to get the right material and thickness for your level of bruxism. ClearClub puts quite a few options at your fingertips.
ClearClub sells five different night guard models, but some are only aesthetically different.
In fact, ClearClub functionally has just two models of night guards — The ClearClub Guard and ClearClub Retainer. Their three other models — ClearClub Multi-Color Guards, ClearClub Color, and ClearClub Dynamic Duo — are really just The ClearClub Guard in different colors.
Having the option to select fun colors and patterns is great. After all, night guards aren’t retainers or aligners; they don’t need to be discreet. You can have a little fun with them since you usually only wear them at home. However, in gaining access to this variety, you also lose some. While their regular night guard can be set to 1.3, 2, or 3 millimeters in thickness, the colored versions are strictly two millimeters thick.
They have an option for daytime wear as well if you have bruxism during the day.
This is their retainer-style guard. Because it uses thinner plastic — just one millimeter thick — it has less of an impact on speech than their other guards. It is also clear, making it discreet in social and professional settings.
Customer Experience
Mail-order night guards don’t include any office visits; all your support is remote. This makes availability, policies, and helpfulness extremely important to the success of your treatment. ClearClub offers the support and policies you need to feel confident in your treatment.
ClearClub backs their products with a 60-day 100% satisfaction guarantee.
If you are unhappy with any aspect of your ClearClub experience and decide you’d rather stop using their night guards within 60 days of receiving them, you get your money back, excluding taxes and shipping. You’ll need to return your guard, and the refund can take up to five business days, but a 60-day period is pretty generous.
They are very willing to work with customers to get things right.
According to existing customers, things don’t often go wrong with ClearClub. However, when they do, their customer service department is stellar at resolving issues. They’re knowledgeable, friendly, and strive to find a solution that works for the customer.
While ClearClub customer support is solid when available, they don’t list their hours of operation.
In our experience, they can be a little hard to reach. In most cases, it took about three hours to get a response, even when we reached out during the day. If you have an urgent concern, that’s probably too long. On top of this, their communication channels are limited to email and web chat, so you can’t even make a phone call to get a fast answer.
While their site is informative about their products, it lacks general customer education.
If you are new to the world of night guards, a little hand-holding can be pretty helpful. Many providers have an extensive customer education library on their websites, covering everything from the dangers of bruxism to signs it is time to replace your guard. ClearClub offers their impression instructions, but that’s pretty much the extent of their customer education efforts.
Best Alternatives to ClearClub
Chomper Labs
Chomper Labs goes farther than most other brands to ensure quality and satisfaction. Their Perfect Fit Promise guarantees a well-fitting guard, while their 100-Day Guarantee provides full refunds within the first 100 days and their Grind-Free Warranty replaces broken guards in the first six months.
They offer four different models, manufactured with various materials and varying thicknesses. They’re not the cheapest option out there, but we think their dedication to quality and customer support is well worth it.
Pro Teeth Guard
Pro Teeth Guard is ClearClub’s most notable competitor. They aren’t a subscription-based service but they offer a lot of other benefits that really give ClearClub a run for its money. First, they are a professional dental lab, working directly with dentists in addition to consumers. When you buy from them, you get dental quality without the office prices.
Second, they have four unique models, each designed specially for a different type or severity of bruxism. But their most notable feature is their guarantee; if you aren’t 100% satisfied after 60 days, you get 110% of your money back.
Sporting Smiles
If you are looking to play Goldilocks to find the night guard that is just right, Sporting Smiles makes it possible. They have six different models of night guards, all of them with functional differences in thickness and materials, including an option you can wear during the day.
They don’t have a subscription option, but you can get 35% off reorders. Plus, they digitize their impressions, so you aren’t stuck relying on physical molds that dry out over time.
Cheeky
Cheeky is a direct competitor of ClearClub as another subscription-based service. Their subscription pricing breaks down to just $54.75 per guard, and since they accept both insurance and FSA and HSA funds, you can reduce this cost even further. There are just two night guard models to choose from: hard and soft.
The hard model only comes in a thickness of 0.76 millimeters, which is ultra-thin and great for daytime wear. You can choose a thickness of 1.5, 2, or 3 millimeters for the soft guard, based on your needs and comfort.
Is ClearClub Right for You?
ClearClub connects you with high-quality night guards that can manage your bruxism and let you sleep better — and at prices that are much lower than your dentist offers. You get to customize the look and function of your guards and control how frequently they ship out.
But they aren’t perfect. There are a few key areas we’d love to see them improve in, and if these areas matter a lot to you, another company might be the better fit. Read about our other top recommendations for mail-order night guards to see what other companies can offer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top three benefits of mail-order night guards and in-office versions?
This is somewhat subjective because different benefits will matter more to different people. So our answer reflects our perspective. That said, we think the top three benefits of mail-order night guards are a lower price, greater convenience, and the guarantees most providers offer. We’d say that the top advantages for in-office night guards are the option to use your insurance benefits, being able to treat other concerns at the same time, and getting direct supervision and communication.
How much can I really save with mail-order night guards?
There isn’t a set amount. Different direct-to-consumer companies have different prices, and these prices often vary by model. Plus, the cost of in-office night guards varies by region and dentist. Usually, you’ll save at least $120, but you could save as much as $800. Considering night guards don’t last forever, your savings increase over time.
Is it OK to wear my night guard during the day?
If you also have daytime bruxism, it is safe to wear a night guard during the day. The main concern here is that some night guards can affect your speech. In general, a thickness of one millimeter or less is ideal for daytime wear, while 2–3 is usually better for wearing at night. If you have daytime and nighttime bruxism, you’ll likely want to own two different guards.
Is it OK to buy one night guard for each arch?
It isn’t inherently bad, but it can become problematic, specifically for the jaw. Night guards help reduce pressure on the jaw joints by creating space between the teeth, leaving the joints slightly “open,” which lessens the strain on them.
However, if you increase that space too much, it can cause a different type of strain, leading to joint injury. If you really want to wear two night guards at a time, look for the thinnest options and don’t go for anything that’s more than three millimeters combined.
How can I know if I have bruxism?
With any medical condition, we encourage you to get a professional diagnosis. With that said, you might notice that you are clenching or grinding your teeth because you actually feel yourself doing it. In other cases, you’ll have to pick up on other signs, such as:
- Teeth that have become worn down, either flat or unevenly worn.
- Teeth with unexplained cracks, especially in the molars.
- Pain in the jaw and ears when chewing or yawning.
- Crunching or popping sounds in the jaw joint.
- Chronic headaches, neck pain, and shoulder pain, especially upon waking.
- Feeling tired during the day despite thinking you slept well.
- Sensitive teeth.
Would it be OK to use a sports guard rather than a night guard?
It’s tempting to do given how widely available they are. Plus, they come in fun colors and designs. Still, these are not good alternatives to night guards. They are thicker and designed to protect the teeth from external blows and damage caused when the teeth snap together. If you use them for sleep, they are more likely to worsen temporomandibular joint disorders than alleviate them.
What are night guards made of?
It depends on the company you buy from and the model you select. Every producer uses the materials they feel are best. While there will be plenty of variety, you can expect that all reputable companies use dental-grade plastics in their night guards.
What different types of night guards are available?
There are so many different types! This can make selecting the best one feel overwhelming but we promise, it’s a great thing. With so many options to choose from, it is easy to find the one that is perfect for you. Most companies will have at least three options (though a few have just two) and either have different thicknesses for different models or let you set yours to your preference.
How do I purchase mail-order guards?
You start by choosing a company and placing your order. Once they receive your order, they’ll ship out an impression kit, which you will use to take molds of your teeth. Once those molds are ready, you ship them back to the company and they’ll use them to design your night guards. Then, they ship them off to you!
If I get a night guard, will it cure my TMJ?
Temporomandibular joint disorders are complex conditions that can have a wide variety of origins. Depending on what is causing your TMD, a night guard can be enough for comprehensive treatment. But for some people, the cause of TMD runs deeper. A night guard can still lessen the pain, improve sleep, and help you live a better life, but it isn’t guaranteed to cure the condition.
What are the risks of not using a night guard?
It all depends on your situation. If you have very light bruxism, you might not even notice a difference with a guard. However, if your bruxism is severe or worsens, you could end up battling everything from chronic fatigue to broken teeth. Not everyone needs a night guard but if you have bruxism, it will most likely benefit you.
Join The Discussion: