Thumbsucking Can Ruin The Appearance Of Your Kid’s Teeth
- April 15, 2013
- 3 mins read
Children always fall prey to thumbsucking. As babies, they have inborn sucking reflexes thus some kids develop the habit of placing their fingers and thumbs inside their mouths. For babies, sucking their fingers is a soothing habit. They suck on their thumbs if they’re feeling tensed, bored or weary. A lot of kids though outgrow it and older children who never got rid of this specific action eventually give up thumbsucking due to peer pressure.
Thumbsucking can do more harm than good though. A kid’s permanent teeth usually arrives at the age of 6, and if the kid never gave up thumbsucking, it could affect the normal alignment of the teeth. It can
also bring on damage to the mouth’s roof. In addition, sucking on thumbs will give them buck teeth. Buck teeth occurs when the thumb’s pressure drives the top and the bottom teeth away from one another. This alteration in teeth alignment can also result in speech problems like a lisp.
Harm on the teeth’s appearance depends on how intense the kid can get while doing this habit. If a kid developed this habit since he or she was a baby, chances are thumbsucking can influence the mouth’s pretty bad. The position of the teeth will also be affected, even prior to the arrival of permanent teeth. If the kid gives in to this habit only once in a while, with minimal sucking, there’s less risk to develop bad, impacted teeth. Given that children find this habit relaxing, they might resort to thumbsucking sometimes because of tiredness and ennui.
However, even though a kid gives in to thumbsucking habits once in a blue moon, it is always better if he or she puts that habit away. A dentist will recommend positive encouragement to kids for not sucking on their thumbs. Refrain from making negative comments because it might discourage kids and they might even chose to suck their thumbs even more albeit it will be done in secret. If you have kids who are constantly sucking on their thumbs, you can seek the advice of a dentist and have them explain the difficulties of thumbsucking.
To make kids quit thumbsucking, parents can provide gloves or socks on their hands, especially at night. If this particular procedure fails, then again they can consult a dentist about this. Dentists might provide a dental mechanism that can be connected to the mouth’s roof. These mechanisms can make sucking rather agonizing. In addition, as mentioned before, thumbsucking is often rooted from boredom or tension. Talk to your kid and know his or her worries, and comfort them as much as you can.
Thumbsucking is a habit that can be given up eventually. All you need is patience and proper advice from a dentist. If you come from Arizona and you are looking for a family dentist AZ has plenty of dental clinics with a wide variety of procedures and treatments provided, from dental sedation to Invasalign. Have your teeth checked on a regular basis and you will be enjoying its appearance and strength for a long time. Regular dental visits are needed in order to maintain your pearly whites.
img c/o pixabay