Gum shields -advice please !

[MaryAnnSingleton]

trying to fit ds' gum shield but it makes him gag and he won't put it right in his mouth - I tried on me and it did make me gag a bit and obviously ds' mouth is smaller...can you trim them ? I have suggested he plays around with it,getting used to putting it in his mouth and gradually putting it further in before we can fit it properly. Failing that, would our dentist do it,do you think ? he was getting v stressed and dh was getting cross - arghh !

You can also get an OPRO home kit where you take the impression yourself, post it back and they make the mouthguard and return it. If you follow the instructions carefully it's not that hard to do and you get the same result as you get from the school visit team. Would probably be cheaper than the dentist.

It's the getting something in his mouth that is the real pickle at the moment - that;s why I'm going to persevere with the shock doctor boil and bite thing and try trimming it...ds is very unlikely to be a great sports person and will only be doing things like football/rugby/maybe hockey one sesion a week and I know he will keep out of any physical action if he can help it - though of course accidents do happen ! What I mean is that expensive dentist made or otherwise mouth guards might not be completely necessary for him unless he really becomes involved in sports.

DS plays rugby and hockey and has OPRO ones from the school visits

You order them during holiday and then they come the 1st day and impressions taken and then it gets sent out to him

BTW when they have train track braces they deffo need a new one but it still fits during othodontic treatment until teeth have mega moved iyswim

boil in bag ones didn't work for DS

DO NOT PEREEVERE iwht boil in bag
made ds2 very mad abotu them

I'll try a bit more just to see if I can get it in ds' mouth without him gagging though..

I'm afraid that is the one bit of the kit we didn't bother with. Having taken advice from older boy that had just left the school. Not used unless you really are into violent contact sports.

i think he may find opro one more comfortable and so therefore less likely to make him gag

but a hockey ball can hit you in mouth even if you are not very involved

at dd's school they are compulsory (I think they only play hockey). Dd got teeth impressions done at school last week (£35). It's all new to me so will keep an eye on this thread. Dd not the sporty type which somehow makes me think she realy does need it!

MaryAnne, your Ds sounds a bit like mine was initially. He's never been good with things in his mouth - the dentist was unable to fissure seal his molars & he's always had trouble cleaning his back teeeth without gagging etc. 7 years ago when I first tried to get him to wear a boil & bite he just couldn't do it - even after we'd trimmed it down & everything. We subsequently had an OPRO fitted & though he found the impression taking unpleasant he managed it and could wear the resulting mouthguard (to be fair he used to take it out a lot and didn't find it totally comfortable, but he could and did wear it).

We've been using OPRO ever since (can't believe it's 7 years). Neither of my two are uber sporty either, but they are compulsory at our school and my two are very accident prone so well worth it. I knocked out one of my friends front teeth at school in the days before mouthguards were thought about for school sport so I guess I can appreciate the benefit more than some. Mind you - dd has managed to knock half her front tooth out in any case - but it wasn't in a games lesson!

thanks snorkle ! will ask at dentists when I next go in Oct.