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Thumb Sucking

THUMB SUCKING

Thumb suckingThumb sucking is a habit seen commonly in children. Most of the children will be having this habit.

There will be use of pacifiers for some children. This may not create a problem till age of 6 months, later it creates a problem. This thumb sucking habit exerts pressure on upper teeth.

Holding the thumb in the mouth at times may not cause problem, but when child is having the habit of thumb sucking repeatedly and vigorously causes misalignment for chid permanent teeth.

This not only affects teeth but also jaw or shape of mouth and also roof of mouth(palate).

Repeated and vigorous thumb sucking will create pressure on teeth. This causes problem for proper eruption of teeth.

As child gets older, it will become difficult to break the habit. Thumb sucking is not a much problem till six months of age. Later, there should be breakdown of this habit.

Many people think thumb sucking may not be problem until permanent teeth erupts. But baby teeth sets the path for proper eruption of adult teeth.

When child sucks the thumb pressure will be applied on upper front teeth, so there will be protrusion (forward movement) of upper teeth.

Normally, in normal bite upper teeth overlaps lower teeth. In thumb sucking children there will be an open space present between upper and lower teeth, creating a condition called OPEN BITE.

This will affect the alignment of teeth. There will be a condition called OPENBITE. In this condition front teeth (upper and lower) will not meet. Apart from this there will be protrusion of upper teeth.

There are certain Habit Breaking A appliances given by the dentist to break this habit at a early stage and for proper eruption and alignment of permanent teeth.