RPE Tongue Guard: Prevents and Helps Heal Tongue Sores Caused by Dental Expanders

This product is excellent for protecting my 9 yo kid’s tongue from the wires on expanders. But it requires patience & adjustments. First, do not use extremely hot water. Very warm tap water is enough. It’s a thin piece of wax so it doesn’t take much heat to shape or melt it. Second, to shape, hold it in the water around 5-10 seconds & place it in the mouth while warm. Bite down on it & using fingers press the wax into the top pallet molding it to the mouth/teeth. Follow the rest of the seller directions. Third, once it’s cooled we used cuticle scissors to carefully cut off excess wax & cut off parts that were too large/uncomfortable/pokey for my child. Finally, don’t handle it too much once adjustments are made. Again it’s thin wax & will break if not careful.

I needed this on a pinch since my daughter was having discomfort from expander indention on her tongue, and I wanted to stop it from getting worse. I received the item next day. Fine. It works great, BUT it is very delicate to work with. I dunked it into hot water from a dispenser that I have that was set to 140 degrees. It was a very brief dunk to soften it. Once placed into the mouth, you have to press with the tongue LIGHTLY, otherwise the wire of the appliance will cut through the sheet and make it unusable. I went through 2 in less than a day, and the 2nd one was additionally reinforced by a scrap piece (pictured middle). You can get 20 sheets of base plate wax for $15. Think about how much the markup on this item is.My first one broke in less than half a day. The 2nd was better, but I don't imagine it will last more than 2 days.SO ... after more research, I found that THERMAL BEADS are much more durable and cost less than what this crooked company is offering.(pictured): I went to Hobby Lobby the next day and grabbed a small container of MOLDABLE PLASTIC PELLETS for $6. There's a lot in there (you probably only need at most a 1tbsp). The trick is to get it to the right temperature to mold. Then I had my daughter press it until comfortable enough that she felt she could wear it all day, then she would rinse with COLD water to harden it, then spit it out. I later improved this step by using a pressure bottle sprayer (Lunatec) and filled the bottle with ice water and sprayed into her mouth until the plastic hardened and was able to come out. This took many tries, but with thermal beads, you can do it over as many times as you need. The white guard pictured is the result. It is a HARD plastic and durable. This material is also used in tooth repair kits and non-toxic.SKIP THIS RPE PRODUCT and look into thermal beads, and have patience to do it until it is comfortable and fitted. I can't imagine how much money this company is taking in with a good idea, but with such an inferior material.

i put the first one in hot in 120 degree water and it literally disintegrated. all it takes is a few minutes in the warmth of your mouth to heat up enough to shape. after a few minutes then bite down slow and it will fit perfectly. also don't move the tab or the shape of the item around once you have it set for your mouth because it weakens it and pieces will break off....keep as straight as possible and it should last awhile. so i learned a lesson and wasted one but i have two good ones and will not be boiling them!

While this product does give some temporary relief to discomfort from a pallet expander, it doesn’t hold up for very long. What you see in the picture is after five nights of wearing it only during sleep. My expander cut right through it making it completely useless. Luckily there are two more, but I’m not sure how they will even last through a day let alone just during sleep.

The tongue guard is a great idea. There a couple of problems though. By the time the product arrived, the tongue guards were melted together to each other and melted to the box.To fix this I brought water (in a small pot) to a boil. Then I let it cool to 120F (as instructed in the box). The cooling took around 15 minutes. I worked with a cooking thermometer. For me working with a cooking thermometer was the most important tool in this process. (I picked mine up at the Ralph’s grocery store some years ago and already had it on hand.) Without the thermometer I would have been lost.Once the water cooled to 120F, I gently placed all 3 tongue guards AND the container in the water for 10 seconds and started separating the molten together pieces carefully. I had to submerge the pieces in 120F water several times to unpeel and separate them successfully.To maintain the water temp at 120F, I kept the pot of water on the stove on a low setting. The thermometer confirming temperature settings.Here’s the thing. In working with this product, you are basically your own lab tech. So patience and preciseness will be key in a successful outcome.In the unpeeling process, I did loose, or rather had to sacrifice, one tongue guard to save the other two.Once you become used to dipping the material into 120F water to make the guards moldable, the process becomes easy.We melted 2 tongue guards to perfect useable form.Today is the first day of use so will need to update on the product’s efficacy in a couple of days.So to anyone out there who just purchased this product, good luck ❤️Patience & a thermometer.