Fighting With Braces

NOTE: This post is not saying fighting is good or bad. We are only trying to give some basic tips in case you do get into a fight. As teenagers we hear about many fights at our local high school, and they are not that uncommon. This is just meant to help you avoid ruining your mouth.

One thing to keep in mind is, if you get into a fight you might get punched in the mouth. With braces, this will be very painful. If you get hit with your mouth closed, the inside of your mouth will get pretty cut up. There is basically nothing you can do to prevent this except not get hit in the mouth! On the up side, if you get hit with your mouth open, the other persons hand will get hurt. Our dad told us a story from back in 1976 when he was in 7th grade. He got into a fight with another boy from his grade, while he had the old school type of braces, the ones that go all the way around each tooth. The other boy punched him in the mouth while he had his mouth open. Our dad said that although he didn’t feel anything, the other guy’s knuckles were cut up really badly! So although those were with the old braces, the new ones would probably do the same thing to someone’s hand!

One thing you can do is bite your back teeth. This will prevent your teeth from clacking together and it will help to prevent getting a broken jaw if you get hit there. After all the work of getting braces this would definitely be a setback!

Apart from constantly wearing a mouth guard (which if it is fight that was set up, as in you know when and where it will be, we would recommend wearing), there is really nothing you can do to protect your braces and mouth if you get into a fight. Keep all the work and effort you have put into your mouth/smile, and try to avoid any fights while you are still wearing your braces.

-Amanda and Erik