Word of warning, I did one of these about 3 years ago, and it left me in a tremendous deal of pain and a journey that reminded me heavily of OPs post.

After years I am finally doing mostly better, but would not wish that on anyone. Unfortunately I'm not an expert and can't tell you what is better, but there are few decisions I regret more than doing a cheap over the counter nightguard.

Once you use something like [1] where they make a custom one you'll never want to use the supermarket variety again. I would grind my way through the supermarket kind every 2-3 months but this one has held up really well and it cleans easily with denture cleaning solutions.

[1] https://sweetguards.com/

I tried all kinds of cheap options before shelling out the big bucks for a custom made guard. It's a night and day difference. The custom guards are ridiculously priced, but I cannot go back to OTC guards after having one.

Often much more uncomfortable since they are much thicker, no?