Habit Breaking Appliances
Thumb Sucking, Tongue Thrusting, Mouth Breathing
Habit can be defined as a fixed or constant practice established by frequent repetition.
Usually children develop unhealthy habits over time. These habits usually fade away as they grow up, if the practice persists after the permanent teeth have erupted, it can drastically change the growth patterns of the jaw and can ruin the alignment of the teeth.
Children have a very soft bone in their jaw, so if they catch such habits it can make the soft jaws change its shape according to the force being applied on it.
So it’s very important to stop these habit by making the child understand the consequences of continuing such habits. But for some kids they need some appliance to break the habit such as.
Thumb Sucking, If your child has a thumb or finger sucking habit that has persisted past the age of five, and you have been unable to tame it, a more permanent solution to thumb sucking is an appliance called a fixed palatal crib or a rake-style appliance.
Tongue Thrusting, It's the natural swallowing movement of tongue, but some kids take it as a habit to repeat this movement which will result in the deformity of the arch.If the pattern doesn’t change, however, it can lead to problems similar to those caused by thumb sucking like problems with tooth alignment and skeletal development.This is treated with a tongue thrusting habit breaking appliance. This can be either in the form of the crib, rake, spiky style or beaded.
Mouth Breathing, Normally breathing is through nose, mouth breathing can lead to decrease in saliva and it makes teeth more prone for caries.Appliance used for treating this is an oral screen. The oral screen prevents the inhaled air to enter the oral cavity. The oral cavity can also be closed.
- Common in Infants
- 23% to 46% of children aged 1 to 4 Yrs.
- Develops between birth and 3 months of age
- Intensity increases till 7 months and then delines
- Severity depending on frequency, duration and intensity