Thumb Sucking And Its Management

Thumb Sucking And Its Management

• Socioeconomic status: In high socioeconomic status mother is in a better position to feed the baby, and babies hunger is satisfied in a short ti,m e while in low socioeconomic sta, the mother is unable to provide sufficient breast milk to infants s,o, here, the infants suckle intensively for a long time and exhausting the sucking urge.
• Working mother: Children of working mothers remain in the hands of caretakers and develop feelings of insecurity.
• Number of siblings: The more the number of siblings, the less attention is given by the parents to the children. A child who feels neglected develops feelings of insecuritusingof habit.
• Order of birth of a child: Younger children in the family have more chances of developing the habit.

• Presence of maxillary anterior teeth protraction.
• Presence of postural retraction of the mandible.
• Lingual tipping of mandibular incisors.
• Presence of anterior open bite.
• The maxillary arch becomes narrow.
• The palatal vault becomes high.
• The upper lip becomes hypotonic.
• Lower lip becomes hypertonic.

• Parents and children provide a history of thumb-sucking.
• The child is asked about his/her feeding habits.
• The thumb and thumbnails ofthe child should be checked. If his/her thumb is clean, then an oifa callus in the fingers is present, it is diagnostic of thumb sucking habit.
• Active thumb sucking has a high incidence of middle ear infections and enlarged tonsils accompanied by mouth breathing.
• The patient has a convex profile.

• The stage lasts from the birth of a child to 3 years of age.
• At this time usually, almost most infants develop thumb sucking habit, and this indicates normal growth.
• The thumb-sucking habit resolved at the end of stage I.
• At this stage, children are treated with medications of pepper, neem, etc., as well as by pacifiers.
• If any malocclusion occurs in children, prophylactic therapies are adopted.

• This stage lasts from 3–7 years.
• At this stage, a film plan of treatment is needed.
• Counseling and appliances are used.

• After 4ththe  year, the habit creates a problem.
• Treatment given is with psychotherapy as well as appliances.

• Friendly discussion is carried out between the child and the dentist about the ill effects of a habit.
• Various photographs and study models are shown and explained to the child who had deleterious sucking habits.
• A record is made and given to the children for scoring each morning to indicate whether the thumb sucking was attempted in the night. This produces good results.

“Role of prolonged thumb sucking in causing malocclusions: Questions answered”

• This therapy is effective in a child who desires to withdraw from the habit.
• An adhesive bandage is given with waterproof tape over the figure, which has to be sucked.
• Asafoetida, n,eem, or pepper medications are applied over the sucking thumb or finger.
• An elastic bandage is loosely tied around the elbow so that arm cannot be flexed and the finger should not be sucked.

• Its assembly consists of loops and spurs, which are formed by 0.40 thickness of wire which is bent at 45° to the occlusal plane,ne and soldering is done to crowns in deciduous second molar.
• Regular checkups should be done from 3 to 4 weeks.
• The appliance should be worn for 4 to 6 months.

“Early warning signs of issues caused by thumb sucking: Common questions”

• The appliance is for children with continued thumb-sucking, which affects permanent or mixed dentition.
• It consists of a modified six-sided roller machine from Tefln.
• This is slipped over a 0.045 stainless steel wire soldered to molar orthodontic bands.
• The appliance is placed for 3 to 6 months.
• Instructions are given to turn the roller instead of sucking the digit.
• Thumb sucking is often seen to stop immediately.

“Role of thumb sucking in diagnosing open bite and crossbite: Questions answered”

Oral Screen

• It is a functional appliance.
• It produces its effects by redirecting the pressure of muscular and soft tissue curtains of cheeks and lips.
• It prevents the child from placing the ttumorfingersss into the oral cavity during sleeping hours.