ThumbGuard by TGuard Reviews

ThumbGuard by TGuard Reviews

Price: $45

Author
Effectiveness
Sanitary & Health
Price
Ease of Use
Comfort
User Rating

FDA-approved safe materials, difficult to remove by child.

Collects dirt and germs, uncomfortable, obstructs hand use and does not eliminate the oral habit.

Our Full Review

The ThumbGuard, now known as the TGuard Classic, is the original treatment kit to stop thumbsucking. It is made of a flexible, clear FDA-approved materials and is designed to stop thumb sucking in children. The thumb sucking guard is fastened to the wrist using colorful, disposable Tguard bracelets. How does the ThumbGuard work? By covering the thumb and leaving an air gap, the child cannot create a suction, so they lose the feeling of comfort and eventually stop the thumbsucking habit. The concept is smart, and by removing the benefit, they are inclined to quit on their own. Still, your child’s motivation is essential to success.  The child can continue to put their thumb or fingers in the mouth, encouraging the oral habit.

Tguard thumb guard

The oral fixation is the crux of the problem and is not necessarily eliminated with this approach.  The child may decide to continue sucking or chewing on the device.  This is the same type of material teething toys are made of.  The device will need to be cleaned throughout the day as many times as you encourage your child to wash their hands.  If the device is not completely dry, irritation may occur on the finger.  The bracelets are one time use only and refills are pricey – $25!Tguard-bracelets

The device is secured around the wrist with disposable bracelets.  They come in different colors so the child may choose a different color each day.  The Tguard Thumb Guard treatment kit comes with 30 bracelets, which may last just two weeks if you use two per day.  Expect to use 1-3 bracelets a day as the device may need to be removed to be cleaned or for certain daily activities such as hand washing, PE at school, etc.  Additional packs of 60 bracelets cost $25.

Be prepared to spend extra $25 (+shipping) for replacement bracelets! Each time your child needs to wash, you must cut the bracelet to remove Tguard. If your child washes their hands just three times per day, you’ll run out of the included bracelets in ten days (TGuard recommends a thirty day program).

The thumb sucking guard, T-guard Classic, comes in three sizes: small, medium and large. Small is for ages 3-4, medium for 5-6, and large for 7-10.  The manufacturer does not specify an upper age limit. Older children are usually unwilling to wear it as it is obvious what it is used for.  Slipping the thumb out of the device is the most commonly reported reason for failure.

tguard vs nipit

The product is one of the original thumb sucking products on the market and has been effective for many children so it deserves a good rating. While TGuard is simple in principal, the disposable bracelets can be difficult to put on and the child cannot do it on their own.   As long as it stays on, your thumbsucker won’t continue enjoying the sensation and indeed has a good chance at successfully quitting the habit. Please remember, as you will read repeatedly throughout this review site, positive encouragement and parent involvement, incentives and even bribery are key to getting your child motivated to quit.

The ThumbGuard looks “uncool” and isn’t very comfortable when worn. Does that really matter? Actually YES, because you want to get your child motivated and excited to quit sucking thumb.  Thumbsucking is often an embarrassment to children of about five years old and up (size medium or large), and wearing the T guard over the hand is not desirable.  Its functionality is equally as important as its comfort, and if your child is old enough to care, then so is its “cool factor.” Many people have also reported that children are able to slide their thumb out when it gets wet from slobber.  If you have it sized correctly this should be less of a problem.  This demonstrates the difference between a motivated and unmotivated child – a motivated child really just needs the reminder, and will not cut the bracelets because they understand the device helps them.

  • FDA approved safe materials
  • effective for more than 50%
  • colorful Tguard bracelets
  • collects slobber and germs, kids may chew on it
  • expensive
  • uncomfortable

The manufacturer of the T-Guard also is inventor of the Fingerguard for finger sucking. The company also offers multiple sizes for the Finger guard and Thumbguard. Their multi-product line is a good sign that the company and products have marketplace acceptance. If purchased directly from the manufacturer you are offered a 30-day money back guarantee. If you think you might use the 30-day money back guarantee, save all of the packaging and everything that came in the box, because in order to get your refund you must return everything within the time window. You’ll also be responsible for your own shipping charges plus 15% restocking fee. This return policy applies to all of the products including those for fingers and thumbs.

For reference, below is a photo of the finger sucking guard next to the original TGuard.

t guard thumb tguard thumb guard classic

 

Most of the time you will find the thumbguard offered in pairs of two for over $100. This is the most expensive device to stop the thumb sucking habit. Seriously stubborn suckers may switch to the opposing hand. When the hand switching does happen, it is response during the first few days. For these reasons, we recommend that if you have decided this is the best product for your child, buy one and test it out. If your child stops thumbsucking on their dominant hand and switches, then buy a second thumb guard.

For complete stop thumb sucking guard product reviews see our homepage. We collected this information in one place to save you time.

implant palatal crib thumb sucking

We encourage you to do complete research before buying any product.  The alternative is spending many hundreds of dollars on the “appliance” and eventually thousands of dollars on braces, or corrective measures.

 

With an involved parent and motivated child, the Tguard can save you thousands of dollars and a lot of time. As with anything online, just be aware of the pros and cons before buying to maximize your chances of success the first time.

stop thumb sucking thumbs up

OUR FINAL CONCLUSION

  • The Tguard Classic Thumb Guard breaks the vacuum suction around the thumb so the child stops getting pleasure from sucking.
  • FDA approved materials, less expensive than Aerothumb.
  • Collects germs and slobber, and uncomfortable.
7 Comments

7
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. The T-guard works great as reinforcement when your child can be convinced, or bribed to keep it on and WANTS to quit. Because of the stretchy rubber, there is no way to get it tight enough that they can’t pull the strap closures through each other and get them loose enough to get guard off if they really want to. The t guard took my kid less about fiver minutes to understand how to work this. However, with the right incentive (i.e. bribe) they will keep it on, and as long as they keep the thumb guard on it works. The Thumbguard can help them not to accidentally suck during the night and also work to remind them throughout the day – but again, getting them to wear this thing during the day can be a struggle. My child nibbles on hers, though, and the rubber can be bitten and nibbled away to reveal the thumb after a few weeks. If you are forcing this on your child – don’t waste your money. If they WANT to quit and agree they need help then this can work for you.

  2. Despite great reviews, this didn’t work for us. We gave it a good solid 3 months +. Our 4 yr old daughter began sucking her OTHER thumb. Didn’t want to purchase a second and have BOTH hands confined. So we decided to wait a little longer to reintroduce the idea, no I’m on this site looking for other ideas….hopefully she will be more at a point of WANTING to stop. I think you really need for your child to be on board and to truly want the help to stop the habit. Everyone is different, maybe the thumb guard will work for you.

  3. It’s been 3 days since we took it off (after wearing for 3.5 weeks). It was seccure but he did develop the habit of gnawing on the thing and it began to rip. I’d say the plastic needs to be harder and we put some foul-tasting substance on his favorite gnawing spots to counter the problem. In my opinion, still too expensive but can’t argue with the results when supplemented with mavala stop.

  4. I tried the T Guard, seemed like a good idea and by the high price I had high expectations. My son was able to pull it off after a day. The straps are supposed to make it so the child cannot take it off, but it was so uncomfortable for him that he wouldn’t stop fussing with it. And kids are very creative and if they are uncomfortable it just won’t work. ANyway, the T Guard did not work for us.

  5. Tried this, and besides making a mess with slobber my four year old kept removing it. Spent $45! Now I see T-Guard has another option that is supposed to be more effective but costs $60! For rubber and plastic this is way overpriced. I will have to try something else now.

  6. My son could get his thumb out and when he left his thumb in, he sucked on it until it started to fall apart. I don’t like that we have to repurchase ties for it either. These are really expensive then you have to buy the straps. I’m going to try a differnet product.