Help please...effect of dummies on teeth?

[ooooooeak]

Does anyone have any experince of this??

DS is nearly 3 and I have reduced it right down to bedtime only but have noticed his teeth looking a bit miss shaped??

Is a thumb worse? As he goes for the thumb sometimes!

I also wonder if to get a perfect set of teeth won't most children have to have braces anyway?

i took the dummy away from my son when he was two after been strongly advised to by the dentist. At this stage he had a gap between his top teeth and bottom ones, this was caused by the dummy according to the dentist. 6 mnths after ditchin the dummy the gap was gone and the dentist said i'd saved myself hundreds of pounds in orthodontist bills!! Don't know if he was being a bit alarmist but glad I did what he said. Btw getting rid was much easier then i thought it would be.

Just looked online (to check what I thought and I was wrong!) and found this. Hope it helps.

Dummy's worst effect is not on the alignment of the teeth but on the palate. Its continuous suction deforms the front plate of the palate upwards and forwards, causing a "rabbit" overbite.

That is what thumb sucking does as well, actually. So if your DS has a tendency to suck his thumb, I would stick with the dummy - at least you can regulate its use to just bedtime, and when you want it gone, you can take it away.

DS1 used to have a dummy but only at bedtimes...however, from about the age of 2, his front 2 teeth gradually started moving forward (I can see on photos now) and by the time he was 3, it was quite pronounced. He gave up his dummy (after prompting from me and the dummy fairy was very generous ) and his teeth soon went back to normal and now he is 4.3, there is no issue whatsoever. Am so glad it wasn't a permanent thing.

DS2 has a dummy, again mainly for bedtimes, and I am going to be on watch for his teeth when he is a bit older.

A took my children to a new dentist a year ago, and the dentist immediately knew that DD had used a dummy. Although he did say that as long as she didn't use one anymore (at 5) then it shouldn't have a long term effect on her teeth.

I remember reading something that a dummy is preferable to thumb sucking because it isn't as heavy as a thumb and arm, so isn't as damaging.