For more than 20 years, MED et al, Inc. has been working closely with pediatric dentists and pediatricians to develop an effective device to stop thumb and finger sucking. Over that time, we’ve created a product that is endorsed not only by parents, but by dentists as well. We hope that these unsolicited reviews will illustrate this fact.
For more reviews, click on the “reviews” tab, on each product page. Shown below are 15 of the latest reviews for our top selling products, TGuard AeroThumb (to stop thumb sucking) and TGuard AeroFinger (to stop finger sucking).
We had a relapse after two months and are having to start the process over. Our son was sucking his thumb in his ultrasound and is stubborn about not wanting to give it up. We are hopeful one more round will do the trick.
Hi Vicki,
Thank you for your feedback! If the child undergoes any appreciable period of time without sucking, it typically indicates the habit was broken and treatment was effective. It would be prudent to better understand the reason for the relapse, in order to address it moving forward. We do recommend reaching out to us to discuss.
Kind regards,
MED et al Inc.
The T-Guard was great until it wasn’t. Our daughter was 6.5yrs old. She learned out to make the medical grade silicone
malleable and sucked her thumb at night before slipping it back in when she got up.
She’d also have pressure spots from the plastic loop on the bracelet. I really do think it’s more successful with younger children. But, she’s not sucked her thumb in almost of week as of this writing, 12/23, and that’s due to classical bribery.
Our 7 year old daughter was ready and motivated to stop. When the TGuard arrived in the mail, she wanted to put it on right away, even thought she had been sick the night before. For her, its presence was a reminder of our goal, and helped her not to suck as she was going to sleep. She did chew on the tip so that rough edges came out, which we had to clip and the file down. We also struggled with irritated skin and had to stop it at night and replace with a knit glove in the middle and near the end. So if you are considering, be very aware of the skin condition, and replace the wrist strap often and let it dry well between putting the guard back on. The only other downside to this adventure is that now she bites her nails instead of sucking her thumb.
It’s a great product and will work great if my child wouldn’t be able to break out of it. She breaks out of it without a problem so won’t benefit us at all.
My child is 45 lbs and a month shy of 5 so I ordered the Medium but it was way too big. Small has been working. We’ve been using it for over a month 24-7. Whenever I go go to clean and change the guard, her thumb immediately goes back to her mouth and she starts sucking, even a month out. She also chews on the guard non stop. We’ve gone through two and just ordered a third. I feel like she replaced thumbsucking with chewing on the guard, so she’s not breaking the habit of putting her thumb in her mouth, so as soon as we drop the guard, she will go back to her old thumbsucking ways.
I really wish this worked better for us. My son, who is 6, has been a thumb sucker for years. He’s started chewing on the guard and it has split in places.
The product probably works for some, just not our child.
We ended up taking them to an orthodontist and they recommending buying a product called Mavala. Honestly, ITS WORKED
The thumb guard works really well. The guard did cause a really bad burn/rash. We only got to use the guard for 11 days. It did stop her from sucking her thumb, but we had to stop using the product.
We have since reached out to this customer to address the reason for the rash, which happened to be because the size was too small. We have since sent the customer a replacement appliance in the medium size, which is fitting better.
I was excited about this product. But my 1 year old has been wearing it two days and I noticed the product cutting in to her skin. I use the tight setting at first but thought it would cut of circulation in her hand so I loosen it only to see her thumb was getting cut from the plastic. I ignored the babies behavior for two nights thinking she just wanted her thumb but she was probably trying to tell me it was uncomfortable and hurting. I think a slip for the thumb should also come with product for better comfort.
Hi Louise,
Please reach out to us: the device, when properly adjusted, should not cause any marks at all. If the device is cutting into the skin, it must be loosened. It is best to remove the device daily and inspect the skin yourself to see if there are any signs that the device is not adjusted well.
We would be happy to troubleshoot this issue and extend your warranty.
Kind regards,
MED et al, Inc.
Product works but don’t expect it to last longer than thirty days. And when it doesn’t, don’t expect TGuard to care about it even though you just dropped significant money with them.
TGuard Response: This customer used our automated warranty claim system and their claim was denied because it was outside of the warranty period, and they were not in the USA. Despite the fact that they did not reach out to us directly to give us a chance to help, we did offer a free replacement for the cost of shipping, as a courtesy, which they refused.
Our guarantee can be found here:
https://tguard.com/customer-service/our-guarantee/
We have a 13 year old son with autism that has sucked his thumb and pointer finger since we adopted him at 14 months. As we started this process it became apparent it will take longer than 30 days. In the brief periods where he has the device off for changing the bands, he puts his fingers right back in his mouth. Also, what we discovered in the process is that the material seems to be falling apart at the top of his thumb. The “plastic” is tearing off. Looks like we might have to get a whole new set. 🙁 We would have rated this lower than 3 stars but when he’s had it on, it does seem to keep him from putting his fingers in his mouth, though we did catch him a few times putting his uncovered pointer finger in his mouth.
Gave the AeroThumb guard a try on my 2-year old daughter, and while it definitely prevented her from thumbsucking her preferred thumb (left), on the 2nd day she’d switched to the other (right). Looks like I should’ve bought two instead of just one. But it makes me think that she’ll switch to some other finger if I do. *Sigh*. The thumbsucking saga continues…
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for your comment. The majority of children who suck their thumbs end up switching from one thumb to another, even if they’ve never sucked the other thumb before. This is because the difference in shape between the left and right thumbs is pretty minimal when in the mouth.
Switching from thumbs to fingers, on the other hand, is pretty rare, and really only affects a small percentage of children under the age of 3. If that happens, we would recommend either waiting 6 months (the child will develop a preference for a particular thumb or finger, which will prevent them from switching), or, you can add a fabric glove to the TGuard so that all of the fingers are covered.
I hope it helps. Good luck, and let us know if we can help with anything else!
This product has the potential to be wonderful. My five year old managed to get her thumb out wth the original design until I made it super tight. It then rubbed and caused damage to her skin so we purchased the areoguard. It’s ventilation is better however my daughter continues to pull out her thumb each night. We’re persisting but I must say I feel frustrated. If I tighten the devise it will damage her skin.