Bad Oral Habits
Pacifier
Must be stopped between 2-4 years. Further use, depending on the intensity and duration of sucking, can cause:
- Deformation of the upper jaw with protrusion of the upper teeth.
- Narrow upper jaw or opening between the upper and lower teeth (anterior open bite).
- It can affect the development of speech and voice.
- Cause difficulty swallowing (ie promoting tongue between anterior teeth when swallowing)
Finger sucking
It causes the same abnormalities as the pacifier. A woolen glove or medicine on the finger can solve the problem. Otherwise, at the age of four the dentist installs a special mechanism that prevents the child from sucking his finger.
Mouth breathing
If your child has difficulty breathing through the nose and uses his mouth to breathe, then you should consult your pediatrician.
Chronic mouth breathing seriously impairs the proper development of the jaws and teeth.
This is because the position of the tongue and lips changes into a resting position so that instead of the lips being closed and the tongue being calm in the palate, the opposite happens, ie the mouth is open for the child to breathe, the lips loose without touching each other and the tongue out of the mouth preventing the upper front teeth from coming into contact with the corresponding lower teeth.
Because the soft tissues, ie the lips, the cheeks and the tongue are the ones that guide the correct formation of the jaw bones, if they are not in the right position when resting, then the following anomalies are created:
- Narrow upper jaw
- Opening between the front teeth (anterior open bite) so the child can no longer bite
- Protrusion of the tongue out of the mouth, both when swallowing and resting, etc.
It is therefore important to help your child breathe through the nose which is the right airway.
Source: Cyprus Society of Paediatric Dentistry
Dr. Penny Mitilineou
Χειρουργός ΟδοντίατροςDental Surgeon
Specialization in Orthodontics
