Goofy milk teeth

[tikkapots]

I have a lovely little girl who will be three in June. He had a dummy as a baby and I took this off of her when she was 18 months old as she gets eczema on her face and the dummy was causing dribbling and flare ups. She did really well without the dummy for about 8 months until a new child of the same age starting going to the same chaild minder. This child had a dummy which my LO decided she wanted and in the absence of a dummy started to suck her thumb.

Her top 2 milk teeth at the front are becoming more and more pronounced and also twisted. I wonder if anyone has had this with their children and if they can advise whether the big teeth will grow through straight or not?

Thanks for your help.

TP

Hi..the shape and positioning of their adult teeth is affected by thumb sucking and dummies.
Try weaning her off thumb...explain to her why and perhaps buy her a special cloth...really soft that she can wrap her hand in and hold against her face..
Stickers for not sucking
Don't allow it during the day
Rub copius amounts of moisturiser on her after her bath including hands...less appetising
Try a nasty tasting nail biting solution

If nothing works, do not panic...you will have done your best. As she gets older, encourage more and more and explain the consequencies more and more and use reward charts etc... It can be fixed when older by ortho work and some children would have mis aligned teeth whether or not they pushed them out of place themselves so it could be a mixture of the two.

My ds has very strange milk teeth in front. He has worn them down because his lower teeth overlap his top two when his mouth is closed !

the dentist said it wasn;t a problem, the shape of milk teeth bears no resemblence to what will grow through asadult teeth, adn if there is a problem a brace will fix it

but as he isn't thumb sucking it is slightly different...the shape of teeth aren't affected but the growing structure of the palette from pressure of a thumb is altered once a child is slightly older...4 or 5ish by which time if thumb sucking is ingrained it can be difficult to stop.
Ask you own dentist for their advice too..they may be able to help you with ideas or reassure you.

Thanks mrspoppins, I really hope I can get her to stop soon. She starts reception in September 2011 and I really do not want her thumb sucking in class.

I might try stop n grow.

TP

I think, as mrspoppins suggested, that you should ask your dentist what s/he recommends. They will have seen thousands of children, and will have a better idea of any potential damage it is doing.

For now, I might almost suggest giving her back a dummy to stop the thumb-sucking, as a dummy won't have such a pronounced effect on her teeth as it has more give. Yes, it's a step backwards which you don't want, but at least dummies were designed for sucking. Maybe whenever she resorts to it oyu could attempt a bit of light teasing (depending on how sensetive she is) about how it's a bit of a baby's habit etc. Though of course completely disregard my advice if the dentist has a solution!

I know it sounds a bit harsh, but would it be possible to speak to the childminder about the other child's dummy habit, and if necessary, that you might have to change childminders to stop her wanting the dummy because of this child? Perhaps the childminder could speak to the other child's parents and see if they can wean their little one off of it - 3 does sound rather late to still be having one, and you might be able to help that child as well as your own.