There is much debate regarding the use of pacifiers leading to development of crooked teeth; yet there is little evidence to prove it. However, parents find it one of the hardest habits to break, to wean their child off a pacifier.
Many children find comfort in sucking fingers, hands, thumbs or pacifiers. And often parents worry if sucking can create a problem in the baby’s teeth development. If your child loves pacifier, then read this blog to get clarity on – ‘if pacifiers could be an actual problem and ruin your child’s teeth.’
One of the natural reflexes for babies is sucking. Sucking is a normal phenomenon in growing babies, may be for couple of years, as they find the habit comforting. This is because babies start to practice it even before they are born.
Research has found that babies actually find comfort in sucking even after they no longer need food from breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
In the first few years, sucking on the thumb or pacifier probably won’t create any difference in the baby’s denture or mouth. However, frequent and long term sucking may be a big problem, especially when the milk teeth or temporary teeth come out. So the problem doesn’t lie in pacifiers, the problem is actually sucking, even thumb or fist for that matter.
Some of the common repercussions of long term sucking are;
However contrary to the belief sucking pacifiers also have some positive implications in babies
Parents should be aware of the negatives pacifiers cause in babies. Foreliminating prolonged oral health problems, children should be stopped from sucking their fingers before they turn two. Until the age of two, any alignment problem with the teeth or developing bone that supports the teeth is usually corrected within 6 months from the time pacifier is stopped.
However, once the alignment has taken complete shape and bones fully developed, prolonged use of pacifiers or thumb sucking will cause problems with the proper alignment of jaws and teeth, changes in the shape of the roof of mouth and growth of the bones.
Otitis Media is the medical term used for acute middle ear infection.
Academy of General Dentistry’s spokesperson, Maria Smith, explains this queer relationship by saying, “Continuous sucking on a pacifier can cause the auditory tubes to become abnormally open, which allows secretions from the throat to seep into the middle ear. Transmission of bacteria in secretions would lead to middle ear infections.”
Maria Smith, who is the DDS of the Academy, goes on to add, “The bottom line is that if your child is continuously battling middle ear infections, you may have an alternative to surgery or antibiotics to stop this problem.†And the alternative is removing the habit of sucking thumb or pacifier.
Breaking the pacifier habit is always not easy. However, there are several methods that parents can follow;
Some of the other recommendations are;
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