If you’re concerned about your child’s thumb-sucking habit, we are here to help.
Thumb-sucking is a natural and common behavior in young children. It offers comfort, helps soothe them to sleep, and can even help relieve anxiety. However, many parents wonder whether this seemingly harmless habit could have lasting effects on their child’s teeth and oral health.
The Truth About Thumb-Sucking
The truth is that when your child has temporary teeth, there isn’t much they can do to hurt the permanent ones that lay dormant. Behaviors like thumb-sucking and brushing teeth might be best developed early on in life so they become habits with more staying power as they age, but those issues really might not have any bearing on their oral health until they have lost their baby teeth and the permanent ones have grown in.
However, as children begin to get their permanent teeth, thumb-sucking may cause problems with tooth alignment and significantly change the formation of the roof of their mouth. Allowing children to use pacifiers is no different from thumb-sucking. The only difference is that pacifiers are easier to take away, and therefore, the habit is easier to break.
For the occasional self-soothing thumb-sucker, the consequences might be mild. But for a child who uses their thumb constantly to find comfort, dental problems might be significant enough to cause concern. If your child is an aggressive enough thumb-sucker, you might notice developing issues with their baby teeth early on.
When Should You Try to Break Their Thumb-Sucking Habit?
The best time to break a habit like thumb-sucking is sooner rather than later. From the ages of two to four years, a child begins to shed their baby teeth, and their permanent ones will start to grow. If you notice that thumb-sucking is having a profound impact on your child’s baby teeth, then it’s imperative to stop it immediately, and it might warrant some advice from your pediatric dentist. But the best time to break the habit is before you notice baby teeth falling out.
Because thumb-sucking is a habit that many children find so comforting, it can be a persistent one and hard to break. The best thing you can do is to approach it with understanding and try not to be too harsh. Praise them for not thumb-sucking, and try not to use punishment to control or eradicate it. Explain why it isn’t good for them, and perhaps work with them to find an alternate means to soothe themselves when they need comfort.
Thumb-sucking isn’t the worst habit that your child can engage in, but it is one that you should try to limit and remove from their behavior patterns as soon as you can so that you can stop it from impacting their oral health in the future.
St. Louis Pediatric Dentistry
If you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s oral health, please call us to schedule an appointment. Your child’s initial oral examination includes a visual exam, charting, diagnosis, and treatment recommendations. We will also take x-rays, including the panoramic x-ray for proper diagnosis of the anterior (front) and posterior (back) teeth and the bite-wing x-ray series for proper diagnosis of proximal decay of posterior teeth.