Hi all.
My daughter sucked her thumb until she was 5. We tried absolutely everything and then got the riot act read to us by the dentist when she was about 5.5 and went through a hard few months when we finally broke the habit. She's just turned 8 and hasn't sucked it since.
Her baby teeth really didn't seem that bad. They weren't out of alignment or anything. But the dentist maintained that her palate was too high due to the pressure of her thumb.
She now has her bottom 4 adult teeth, plus top two middles. The ones next to the big middle teeth are currently gaps. The bottom teeth have come on crooked but that's ok, they will be straightened when she's older (also, they are the same as mine, so possibly genetic). My concern is the top teeth. Her gum above her middle front teeth is almost longer than the teeth themselves and when she smiles, it looks like mostly gums (not helped by fact she has two teeth with space either side bless her!) We saw the dentist the other day. It's tricky to discuss in front of her because I don't want to voice any concerns or draw attention to it - she has never mentioned being unhappy with her smile though I have noticed her starting to hide her teeth in photos and do closed mouth smiles ☹️ the dentist pointed out that the actual bone above the top 2 teeth is too far forward so I'm assuming that's the reason for the shape of her gyms. He said he is fairly optimistic that as she grows and her jaw gets bigger it will all even out but seemed to base that on the shape of my own face (DD and I are very similar in looks) saying there's a good chance her bottom jaw will grow to be even with the top. It doesn't seem likely to me especially given the history of thumb sucking but I'm no expert of course. I mentioned orthodontics and he said 'i can move teeth, I can't move bone".
Not sure what I'm asking. The dentist is a bit scary and snippy and, as I say, I don't want to ask too much in front of DD. Has anyone had similar with their children's teeth as they came though and found it improved over time? And if not, is there anything at all that could be done when she's older? DD is a quiet sensitive type. I just don't want this to knock her confidence as she grows up.