That metal ring thing isn't suppose to poke. Tell your orthodontist.
The rings are to keep your molars in place so they do not rotate when you have braces (and it's something that catches food and lots of stringy veggies and somewhat chokes you when you play sports with mouth guards). There should be a curved bar-like thing that connects to the rings to each other. The bottom one should follow along your teeth to the other side. The top one, is weirdish. It's like this thing that curves in the middle and points toward your tonsils.
And look, I even drew a picture for you.
I had both of the bars, but then my bottom one broke so then I just have the rings on the bottom. (: The rings have this thing that sticks out along the ring, but it doesn't poke.
Yeah, at the end of your orthodontist appointments, you should feel around in your mouth so that they can check it before you come back in four weeks.
Just speaking from my experience. Had braces since 6th grade. Still have it now as of Sophomore year. I was suppose to get them off in October of '08. Bads. ):
Yeah, the ring has something sticking out of it,
but i have two .. things sticking out from one ring.
one that sticks out to my cheeks.. and one that sticks out under my tongue and constantly scratches it, forming a cut.
so its like a ring with.. two things sticking out of it.. like this :
