We serve families and patients of all ages at the Miami Beach and North Miami Beach offices of Drs. Ressler, Hirschl, and Lelchuk, and are proud to offer new parents guidance on their children’s oral health. Thumb-sucking is a common behavior in young children, and first-time parents are often unsure of whether this is a bad thing or not. The answer depends on at what point the child stops.
Toddlers often feel soothed by sucking on their thumbs or a pacifier, and provided they don’t do it too hard, their mouths will grow into the right shape if they cease before the age of five. However, if the behavior continues as they lose their first baby teeth and their adult teeth come in, they may experience malocclusions, jaw misalignment, and warped upper palates. Sometimes they substitute thumb sucking with pushing against their front teeth with their tongues, which causes the same problems.
By the time a child is old enough for thumb-sucking to be a problem, it may be possible to reason with them and include them in strategies to get them to stop. If the child is suffering from deep-seated feelings of anxiety, help from a psychologist may be necessary. There are orthodontic devices which can discourage thumb sucking and tongue thrusting, but these are usually for the most serious cases.
Dr. Allen Ressler, Dr. Andrew Hirschl, and Dr. Ira Lelchuk operate from two locations. To schedule an appointment at the location at Mount Sinai Medical Center, 4300 Alton Road, Suite 1190, Miami Beach, Florida, 33140, call 305-532-1444. To schedule an appointment at Intracoastal Mall, 3909 NE 163rd St, Suite 310, North Miami Beach, Florida, 33160, call 305-949-2630. They can also be reached on their website, www.Miami-Dental.com, through a contact form.
Miami Dental
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