I'm chronic bruxer too!!!
I wore a flat plane occlusal splint at night for about 8 years. Two years ago when I started my TMJD treatment, I spent a couple thousand on a lower mandibular repositioning splint for daytime and a "custom" upper splint for night to keep me from grinding. That night splint had a "beak" sticking out the front that kept me from being able to have my back teeth touch and a "wedge" that came down in the front in behind my lower jaw to keep it from falling back when I slept. It took some getting used to, but I grew to LOVE it because eventually I stopped bruxing.
When I got my upper braces last August, I had to stop wearing that upper splint and my bruxing came back, along with lots of TMJD pain. We tried a couple nighttime splints on the lower but they made things much worse. Eventually, I ended up having my daytime splint cut back to expose my back molars. I'm now wearing the repositioning splint 24/7 and I have brackets on my back molars. I've worked my way up to 3 brackets so far...
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I then started wearing elastics from my #7 molars to my top canines to help hold my lower jaw forward and in correct position when I sleep. My bruxing significantly reduced, thank goodness. I also started wearing elastics in "v's" to erupt those back molars so they will touch when I get my lower braces off. I have one #6 that has a crown that will be replaced after my treatment. I'll have a molar build-up on that one when I get my lowers so that my teeth will all touch.
I'm really really nervous about what will happen when I get my lower braces. Not about the braces themselves, but because it has been over a DECADE that I've worn some sort of splint while I sleep to reduce the bruxing and to treat my TMJD. I'm totally going to feel "naked". It took me over a year, and tons of $$, to get the muscles in my jaw to stop spasming. I just can't imagine how it is going to feel and what my jaw will do when I don't have my "safety blanket" of a splint when I sleep.
How did you adjust when you had to stop wearing your splint?