Any dentists out there? What would you advise for a lip-sucker?

[hobnob57]

DD1 was a finger-sucker. I noticed her top front teeth beginning to stick out and so we encouraged her, successfully, to give up the finger sucking when she was 2. Now 3, she has replaced the fingers with sucking her bottom lip. Her teeth are continuing to progressively stick out and she has begun to stop putting her lips together for certain speech sounds, such as 'm'.

I've thought about contacting the dentist, but can't really think what they could possibly do about it. We remind her not to do it when we catch her at it, but don't really know what else to do. Will it also affect her adult teeth?

I'm no dentist but have gone through two phases of orthodontic hell. I didn't suck my thumb, fingers or anything but my top teeth appeared to stick out. In fact, I now realise that when front teeth appear to stick out it is often more that the bottom jaw is set back and needs bringing forward. This is often cause by holding the mouth open (blocked or persistently runny nose). This may not be your problem, but its worth bearing in mind. Try to encourage your DD to hold mouth shut at all times and encourage good positioning of bottom jaw. Have a look at www.orthotropics.com

My first orthodontic treatment removed molars on my top jaw and pulled back my front teeth. This wrecked my jaw leading to headaches and inability to eat chewy food. In my 20s I underwent a 2nd treatment to attempt to remedy the mess that this had made of my jaw. Not fun!

I had orthodontics too and it's no fun.

Her front teeth are definitely migrating forward - they are shaping her top lip in a new way and the spaces between her incisors are widening. It's frustrating that we can't do anything about it yet we can see it happening.