When you (or your child) get braces, be sure to ask the orthodontist for a sports mouth guard. It's a semi-flexible plastic bite guard they want the kids to wear when they play any kind of contact sports so if they get hit in the face, the braces don't get impaled on the inside of the cheeks.
Well, when you first get braces, the inside of the cheeks are SOOOOO tender - they get shredded just from talking and eating. Wax on the poky parts does help, but the bite guard REALLY helps at night. It gives the cheeks a real relief from the constant shredding action of the braces and lets them heal up some.
By Eileen M. from Elk Grove, CA
