What can be done to make a night guard more comfortable?

Hard maxillary night guard
 

Often occlusal night guards are made by a dental laboratory for dental patients that are too bulky or open the bite too much. These night =guards are recommended for patients who may be bruxing or grinding their teeth at night but they must fit well to be comfortably worn.
Usually it is necessary to adjust these to make them more wearable. If these devices were inserted as made by dental laboratories, without appropriate adjustments, they could not be comfortably worn.
Since night guards are usually made either of acrylic or vinyl, they are easily adjusted with an acrylic cutting bur . Often bulky night guards can be thinned out to make them more wearable. Another feature of night guards that often needs adjustment is the bite. Night guards should not open the patient bite by more than 3 mm and If the opening created by the night guard is more , it also usually requires adjustment.
Once adjustments have been made the night guard is polished and given to the patient to try out and take home. If a patient has problems wearing the night guard they should be able return at a later date to discuss their problem(s) and have any additional adjustment that the dentist feels are indicated.