Part 2: Your Ultimate Guide to Kid’s Dental Development
Thumb sucking can be an endearing habit. A habit that can start in the womb – some parents have ultrasounds of their babies sucking their thumbs. Thumb sucking is such a stereotypical habit of babies, it can feel unnatural to stop them.
While thumb sucking seems adorable, can thumb sucking affect teeth? Breaking the habit of thumb sucking is important because it can cause developmental issues in the mouth. Plus, the older a child gets the more difficult breaking this habit can be.
Nearly all children will have a sucking habit at some point, whether this be through thumb or finger sucking or pacifier use. Most children will outgrow this habit. But to what extent is this habit causing problems before they outgrow it? And at what point should it be stopped?
The old school mentality around thumb sucking was pretty hands off. Most parents and dentists would wait until the child would outgrow it, sometimes leaving the issue until much later in life. Dentists would often let an orthodontist deal with it – if it went unaddressed that long.
But as with so many habits and conditions, the longer it goes unresolved the more difficult it is to correct. So, this leaves us with the question – at what age should we stop the thumb sucking habit? When does this habit transition from harmless to harmful?
At what age do babies find their thumb?
Every baby finds their thumb at a different time. Many find their thumb in the womb while others don’t ever find their thumb. Though, if you your baby is going to find his or her thumb it’s usually in the first three months of life or not at all.
At what age should you stop thumb sucking?
The short answer is – after 6 months and as early as possible.
Similar to pacifiers, thumb sucking can help very young children develop jaw muscles. After that however it quickly becomes an issue. There are some who believe thumb sucking is beneficial to the psychology of a child, but thumb sucking isn’t as much of a comfort habit until past the first year. Thumb sucking is a habit that causes the child to withdraw and ‘zone out’ instead of engaging. This may appear as though the child is more calm but really it’s a habit that encourages ‘checking out.’
Also, many seem to think you shouldn’t worry about thumb sucking until permanent teeth come in, but this simply is not true. Baby teeth growth sets the path for adult teeth. Additionally, as your child gets older, this habit will only be more difficult to break.
Deformed teeth and thumbsucking
When your child sucks their thumb, the force can cause the teeth to tip forward. This can cause a couple of malocclusions, including:
- Anterior open bite – When the front teeth don’t come together but the molars do.
- Posterior crossbite – Where the front teeth overbite and the molars underbite, creating misalignment throughout the teeth that cross over around the canines.
- Anterior excessive overjet – A deep overbite where the top teeth significantly overhang the bottom teeth.
Are there any benefits of thumbsucking?
Thumb sucking isn’t all bad. When your child is a newborn, it can help develop the muscles of the jaw and mouth. But the benefits of thumb sucking quickly vanish after six months of age.
Another benefit of thumb sucking is that thumb suckers are less likely to have allergic hypersensitivity and can have fewer allergies. But this is likely due to the ‘hygiene hypothesis,’ which suggests the decrease in infections caused by overly disinfected lifestyles is the cause behind the rise in allergies and autoimmune diseases. However, this theory isn’t enough to suggest thumb sucking is the best way to prevent allergies, especially when you weigh this benefit against the consequences.
The hygiene hypothesis is based on a diverse microbiome. In The Dental Diet, I’ll teach you how to balance the oral microbiome for a strong immune system.
Consequences of thumb sucking
While this habit may appear innocent, the consequences of thumb sucking should be taken seriously because they can affect your child’s health later in life. Science has found long-term negative consequences of thumb sucking include:
- Narrowing of the jaw or palate
- Shrinking the airway
- Altered breathing patterns
- Poor swallow patterns
- Improper teeth position
- Hindered speech
- Speech issues
- Changing the shape of the face
- Abnormal tongue rest
One of my biggest concerns for thumb suckers is that it alters the position and posture of the tongue. A child’s tongue is a central conductor in dental arch growth. Poor dental growth can make their airways smaller, which causes sleep-disordered breathing later in life.
The signs of poor breathing at night include:
- Snoring
- Sleeping on stomach
- Bedwetting
- Daytime tiredness
- Restless leg syndrome
Poor night time breathing disrupts the glymphatic system, which is supposed to run during the deeper stages of sleep.
When your breathing impacts your sleep, your brain can’t clear out important neurotoxins. This neurotoxin buildup has been associated with numerous diseases, most notably Alzheimer’s disease, which is on the rise and now ranks as the third cause of death.
7 Easy ways to stop thumb sucking
There are tons of articles giving different tips and techniques to get your child to stop sucking their thumb, but here are the seven I’ve found to be most successful.
- Start early – The young you do this, the easier it will be.
- Hold your child’s hand when they have the urge to suck their thumb (or replace with a comfort item such as a blanket)– This helps when thumb sucking is an emotional comfort and they are feeling uneasy.
- Praise your child for not sucking their thumb – Explain how the habit is for babies and they are a big boy or girl.
- Gently encourage your child to engage with the situation that’s causing them to suck their thumb. Or, if it’s occurring when they are unaware, bring their awareness to it and talk with them.
- After 6 months of age, introduce your child to tougher food. This helps them to focus no normal oral function and not rely on thumbsucking for oral feedback.
- Do the home exercise program here to help your child learn proper oral function.
- See a dentist or practitioner who specializes in Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) – This will not only help your child stop the habit, but your dentist will also be able to help correct any early dysfunction caused by thumb sucking.
Stop thumb sucking at a young age
I know thumb sucking can be very cute but may harm the child’s dental development and airway health. With over 80 percent of the population suffering from sleep-disordered breathing caused by smaller airways, it’s a good idea to stop this habit early.
Stopping early sucking habits is one of the four elements of your child’s dental development – the other three are:
- Establishing good feeding and swallowing patterns (baby-led weaning)
- Encouraging strong chewing skills
- Making sure your child is breathing through their nose
In part three of this series, we will look at teething and what techniques help establish healthy dental and airway development.
Many parents don’t realize they seriously influence their child’s mouth development, fortunately you’re already ahead of the pack. Share this article with your friends and family with young children so you can tell them about these simple steps they can take to improve the health of their children for years to come.
Want to know more? Dr Steven Lin’s book, The Dental Diet, is available to order today. An exploration of ancestral medicine, the human microbiome and epigenetics it’s a complete guide to the mouth-body connection. Take the journey and the 40-day delicious food program for life-changing oral and whole health.
Click below to order your copy now:
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For more information on Dr. Lin’s clinical protocol that highlights the steps parents can take to prevent dental problems in their children: Click here.
Resources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4530609/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27401101
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841828/
