Dental Health Tip: Impact of thumb sucking on your child's dental health

As we know, many habits develop early as children, and some can have an impact on their dental health. For most children, thumb sucking is a natural reflex. Babies feel happy and secure when they suck on their thumbs, pacifiers, fingers or other objects, and doing so may be soothing and help them learn about their little world before the permanent teeth emerge. Once that happens, thumb sucking can lead to issues with the alignment of the teeth and the correct growth of the mouth. It can also damage the mouth's roof.

Children who simply rest their thumbs in their mouths instead of sucking them less often develop dental problems than those who aggressively suck their thumbs, a pacifier or other object. Intense sucking can cause issues with the primary, or baby, teeth.

Many children stop sucking their thumbs about the time when the permanent front teeth form or between two and four years of age, but some children need help to stop thumb sucking or using a pacifier.

Tips to Help Your Child Stop the Habit

- Give your child lots of praise when he or she is not sucking.
- If your child sucks his or her thumb when needing comfort or feeling insecure, talk about the anxiety's cause and offer your child comfort.
- Ask your dentist to talk to your child about the effects of thumb sucking on oral health.
- Your family dentist may also be able to provide a mouth appliance or bitter medication to cover the thumb and discourage sucking.
- Wrap the thumb in a bandage or, at night, cover it with a sock.

While proactively helping your children to modify habits like thumb sucking isn't easy, the dental health benefits make it well worth the effort. Good luck.

About the Author

Dr. Sowmya Kanumilli is an experienced family and cosmetic dentist in Aldie, Virginia. Connect with her on Google+