When I was little I loved thumb sucking. It was so comforting. But,

Willowz

When I was little I loved thumb sucking. It was so comforting. But, then one day I stopped thumb sucking. It was forced upon me in a brutal way, but I got rid of the habit. I was very angry at the perpetrator but eventually I got used to life without sucking my thumb. Discuss the deep philosophical implications and revealing truths about human nature that are contained in this opening post.

Evo

Parents should never allow thumb sucking to begin with.

Willowz

Some parents should have never have had children!

Ryan_m_b

There are some very serious dental problems with thumb sucking

arildno

Perhaps I suffer from thumb sucking deprivation syndrome??

Evo

Eeeewww!!! I knew it deformed the palate and tooth growth, but yikes! Parents should be handed these pictures by their pediatrician.

Jimmy Snyder

When I was a child, my teeth looked something, but not exactly, like this. It wasn't caused by thumb sucking, but by having too many large teeth and too small a space to hold them. The cure was to pull 4 perfectly good teeth and use braces to pull the rest of them back into my head. When my wisdom teeth came in, my bottom front teeth slightly buckled.

Willowz

My condolences.

rootX

I loved eating sand sometimes

Jimmy Snyder

This was many decades ago. I once used the services of the Temple U. Dental School. You could get cheap treatments, but it was by students. There was a real dentist to oversee things. When he got to me, he called all the students together to see what I had in my mouth. He pointed out to them: A molar with 5 crowns, a milk tooth (I was 24 at the time), gemination (two teeth that had grown together like siamese twins), and of course, the missing teeth.

DaveC426913

I am confused by this.

Does one pull the thumb (or fist, or toe) out of the mouth of the babe-in-arms?

Jimmy Snyder

Too late. The fetus will suck it's thumb in the womb by the 15th week.

BobG

Dentists were always puzzled by my only having 3 front bottom teeth.

I had lost my two bottom baby teeth naturally, but customized the process by riding my bicycle into a parked car so that I was missing all four bottom front teeth at the same time. When they grew back in, one was squeezed to the rear. Since the spacing seemed pretty good when the rest of my permanent teeth came in, getting braces to squeeze the rear tooth back into place didn't seem to serve much purpose, so they just pulled it.

In retrospect, I should have kept it as a spare. At least it was protected by my other teeth and less likely to get knocked out.

Evo

It's normal for an infant to suck on things and stick things in their mouths, so no, not if the child is an infant. A thumb sucking habit that continues once teeth are coming in can cause problems.

turbo

Must be a penguin in disguise.

DaveC426913

Ah. So no such thing as not allow it to begin with. It is a habit that must be actively discouraged by the parents at some seemingly arbitrarily-chosen point (to the child) in the child's life. Hm. Much trickier.

Norman

Wow, this is a little over the top.
Even the ADA only worries about thumb sucking (from a orthodontic/medical view) once permanent teeth are coming in. The reason you want to try and change this behavior earlier is that it is easier to change. There will be no permanent damage to the mouth from thumb sucking before the permanent teach come in.

There are some worries about communication development at preschool age, but typically children give up the habit at this age also. So it is not usually an issue.

Pacifiers and thumb sucking are normal. The same sort of issues can occur with pacifier use as with thumb sucking.

It should be said also, that non-nutritive sucking (i.e. thumb sucking) in infants is important. It can help promote suckling and proper feeding, reduces pain, and may be extremely important to premature babies.