Ok, so I thought I would do something a little different for today’s blog post. I get a lot of questions about when children should stop sucking their thumbs or pacifiers.
“What do I do if my child sucks their thumb?”
First don’t get too worked up if they are still young! Thumb-sucking in infant and toddler children is extremely common and really should not be a cause for concern. Some doctors think that it is better to give the child a pacifier so that later a pacifier can be taken away more easily than a thumb :). As far as when to worry about thumb sucking or pacifiers, most children will stop the behavior on their own before it creates any orthodontic problems. Typically, most orthodontists, myself included, think it is best if children have given up the pacifier or thumb habit by the age of 4. Prolonged thumb sucking or pacifier use after the permanent teeth have started to erupt (age 5-6) can cause orthodontic and dental development problems.
An anterior open bite occurs when the front teeth do not overlap or touch when the child closes their back teeth together so you can look through the space and see the tongue, this may develop as result of the habit if it persists too long.
This patient had an Open bite- Notice the back teeth touch but the front teeth do not overlap at all.
Also the sucking may cause a narrowing of the upper jaw and the upper back molar teeth to sit inside the lower back molar teeth. This is called a posterior cross bite and occures as a result of the pressure from the checks as the child sucks while the permanent teeth are coming in.
This patient had a Posterior Cross Bite- Notice how the upper jaw is narrow and the upper teeth sit inside the lower teeth.
A third situation that can arise is protuding front teeth. The teeth end up coming in in front of the thumb since it is in the way of their normal position. This means that they stick out too far, sometimes have spaces, and are in danger of being broken due to a fall or sports mishap.
This patient had protruding upper front permanent teeth from a thumb habit- Patient was 7 years old.
Today’s comments challenge:
Post your most creative name for a pacifier or a creative way that you talked your child out of the habit?
I will start: Binkie, Paci, Plug 🙂
Our munchkins call their pacifiers “bobbles”. (Don’t ask-a cousin started it.) Baby boy left his bobbles for the crabs during a trip to the beach when he was a little over 2. He’s 3 1/2 now and still talks about passing on his bobbles to the baby crabs.
Thanks, Dr. Woodall, for the help! At our house we call it a “tuggie”.
Hmmm…no children yet so no good names, but I sucked my thumb as a child. Maybe I need to move to Villa Rica so I can have you take a look!
I saw a pacifier once that was dubbed a “mute button” (:
Still waiting on that thumb sucking update! We just call it paci, but my nephew and niece call it a poop. Gross, I know, but Parents actually had an article with someone calling it that the other day!
Thanks, Dr. Woodall, for the help! At our house we call it a “tuggie”.