How to handle teeth grinding and clenching?

I would not use the guard except at night. I also am trying to double check if there is some food hidden in his mouth that I cannot see yet which is causing him to grind his teeth.

Thank you for sharing your experience with your father. I want to stop the grinding to prevent pain he might get from chipped teeth and preserve the teeth he has for eating. I wear a dental night guard and I like to chew on it at night before I fall asleep, and I accumulate some saliva while chewing in it. Therefore I am concerned that my patient might gag on his salvia. He sometimes coughs if he drinks too fast. My patient does have severe dementia. He cannot brush his teeth or floss his teeth. If I did not do it he would surely lose what he has left for eating. He used to see a dentist, but now he would not cooperate and he would resist (fight) any dental procedure. He does not seem to have any major dental problems, but if he needs dental treatment (for pain or infection) his doctor advised that my patient would need to go to dental surgeon to be anesthetized for treatment. I agree with you that there comes a time when normal things do not apply anymore. I just want to prevent a possible problem for him.

I am looking at a Oralab dental guard that does not need to be molded to prevent teeth grinding, Out of curiosity I am now trying a surgical mask, upside down, so the nose metal piece does not get chewed on, just rests on his chin. It seem to quiet him down from teeth crunching if he wants to bite down on the soft part of the mask.

Thank you you both for responding. My patient is in the late stages of dementia and it is disheartening that at some point there come a time when there is nothing a caregiver can do to help. So sad and hurtful for me.