Relationship between a child’s oral habits and facial growth

Most people believe that facial development and crowded and crooked teeth issues are hereditary. But, according to cosmetic dentist Brampton, oral habits can cause future facial development and orthodontic problems. Fortunately, for children and parents, numerous orthodontic treatments can help kids break unhealthy habits or correct the effects they may have before they become too serious.

The various oral habits that need correction:

1. Thumb or finger sucking
2. Mouth breathing
3. Lip muscles that are over active
4. Nail biting
5. Tongue thrusting

Posture of the jaw effects its growth, kids who develop the habit of breathing from their mouths can affect how their jaws develop. Normally, people breathing from their mouths develop narrow, long faces. Mouth breathers may also develop dysfunction of soft tissue or TMJ disorder.

Thumb sucking or a pacifier are common during early childhood. However, children who do not outgrow this habit, face adverse dental problems in the future. When a child sucks on the thumb, he/she forces a child’s tongue to drop from the mouth’s roof. Due to this, the muscles of the cheek start working over-time to push the upper jaw teeth inward, leading to crowding issues.

The more frequent and intense bad oral habits are, more the probability of malocclusion. Experts believe one of the best ways of combating the effects of finger and thumb sucking is with orthodontic pacifiers.

These pacifiers are especially designed to duplicate the shape of a woman’s nipple when inside the mouth of the baby and to support the shape of the jaws and palate. This design also helps to encourage the most natural and harmless sucking action to help in correct oral development.

Another habit that can lead to misaligned teeth is tongue thrusting. A habit in which facial muscles exert more force on the back of the teeth than on the fronts of the teeth. On the other hand, overactive lips can make teeth to slope inward if the tongue does not offer enough force to fight it.

There are numerous devices apart from orthodontic pacifiers that Brampton dentists may use for correcting poor oral habits in children. Such devices are used after, during and before orthodontic treatment to correct the issues that lead to crooked, crowded teeth as well as malformed faces. The devices sometimes serve as restraints to the bad oral habits by removing the pleasing sensation that children get from, sucking their thumb say Orthodontists. If your child suffers from dental habits, it is important to get in touch with your dental expert.