I certainly understand your concern. It is true that carelessly rushing into kissing--especially French kissing, in which the tongue is involved--when you have braces may cause tearing and scratching of your partner's lips and maybe even yours. But braces don't have to stop you from enjoying the act of kissing. It just takes a bit of humor, communication, gentle exploration, and...well, practice to handle the situation.

Let's start with communication and a sense of humor. It may help to talk about the fact that you're nervous about hurting him, but bring it up in a joking way. You can even turn the situation around and use your "confession" as a way to flirt with him. Dispelling the tension, self-consciousness and fear around this issue is likely to make you more confident and to make you and your "kissee" feel that you are in this together.

Try starting off gently and slowly, mostly using your lips, then test the waters by gradually increasing the intensity of the kiss. You will learn pretty quickly what works and what doesn't, but be sure to ask him to let you know when something hurts or feels uncomfortable.

The last thing is this: practice, practice, practice. Once you and the guys you like get used to each other's style and rhythm, your kissing will be practically worry-free.