The trouble with thumb sucking.

Is allowing your child to suck their thumb a bad thing?

Yesterday I talked about letting your child suck on a pacifier and basically said that I had no problem with that.

I feel, that letting your child suck on their thumb is something completely different.

The biggest reason for this is the pressure that can be applied by the child's finger to the teeth and roof of the mouth.

A pacifier is passive. No force is applied by it. On the other hand, a child can use their thumb to apply a tremendous amount of force.

This force can have multiple side effects.

One of those side effects is that the upper front teeth are actually forced upward and outward.

With the teeth in this position it would become impossible for those teeth to function as they were designed to. The front teeth are meant to cut pieces of food into smaller pieces before they are moved to the back teeth for grinding it down before swallowing. If the upper front teeth do not touch the lower front teeth then it would be very difficult to cut through anything.

the next problem with teeth that do not touch would be that a child's speech patterns would be changed. During the formation of certain sounds the tongue needs to rest against the upper front teeth. If the upper front teeth are not in the proper position then the sounds made by the child will not come out as they should.

So what can be done to stop a child from thumb sucking?

There are lots and lots of ideas out there.

Some people choose the simple idea of painting hot sauce on their child's finger. Hopefully they still love you after that.

The next idea is to place an appliance in the child's mouth like the one below. The balls the sit on the wire prevent the child from getting any suction thus the child gets less satisfaction and gives up.

You can also go the route of putting something on your child's hand. The device below also prevents the child from completely sucking on their thumb.

Point is that you need to get your child to stop sucking on their thumb.

Any of these ideas would work.

The only thing I do not recommend is yelling at your kids. That never really helps anything.

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Does your child need to go to pediatric dentist?

Like many things in this world...... it depends.

Pediatric dentists are an amazing tool in the dental community.

I send children to them all the time.

However, there are many many more children

that I never send to them.

Almost everything that a pediatric dentist can do for your child can be done by a general dentist. Placing fillings, straightening teeth, placing space maintainers, extracting teeth,

doing pulpotomies (baby root canals), cleaning teeth, etc.

All of these services are offered by both a pediatric dentist and the general dentist.

So what does a pediatric dentist for?

The thing that, I feel, pediatric dentists are best for is to treat the nervous child.

Children just don't like dentists, doctors, nurses, etc.

We are always the ones giving shots and swabbing throats and so on.

The pediatric dentist is licensed to sedate children.

Whether through I.V. or orally your child can be put to sleep at a pediatric dentists office.

Now, this service will cost more money for the overall treatment but if it is the only way that your child can be treated due to them being scared to death then that is the best thing.

I suggest starting to bring your child to the dentist with you when they are about 3 years old.

Bring the child in for your cleaning. Let them sit in the corner and see that its not such a bad thing to be seen by the dentist. Do the same thing for you next cleaning. At that next appointment we typically will ask to see inside the child's mouth as they sit on the chair in the corner. We simply look around and get the child used to use being in their mouth. After that is done we congratulate the child for being so good and give them a prize. This exercise clears the way for them to be seen for their own cleaning and not be too scared about it because they have already been into the dentist on numerous occasions.

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Why are new fillings sensitive sometimes?

New fillings that are placed by your dentist should not be sensitive.

If they are they should not remain that way for long.

Some very large fillings may take longer then others, but

eventually every filling should calm down.

So what exactly is going on when a fillings sensitive?

It has to do with expansion and contraction.

As with most things, when a tooth is exposed to hot or cold

temperatures it will expand or contract accordingly.

If a tooth has never had a filling it will all contract and expand at the same time.

If a tooth HAS had a filling however this is where we may get an issue.

If the tooth and the filling have a different point at which they want

to expand or contract then there can be some discomfort.

Over time this discomfort should go away as the tooth gets used to the filling.

If the discomfort does not go away then the filling needs to be re-done.

If it still hurts then there are some different types of filling materials that can be used.

If it still hurts then other treatments may be needed.

Filling sensitivity is a funny thing.

Someone can get 4 fillings in the same day.

Same doctor.

Same filling material.

Same everything.

But only 1 will end up hurting.

It is a real tooth by tooth thing and can drive patients, and dentists, crazy!

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Teeth Grinding in Children

Does your child grind their teeth at night?

Do you go in to check on them and hear that horrible grinding sound?

Does your child's teeth look like little nubs that have been ground down

from what used to be good looking little teeth?

Can anything be done about it?

Will it end up hurting their teeth?

Here are some answers to your questions.

No there is nothing you can do about the grinding.

In adults we can do things like make mouth guards to wear

at night so you grind on that rather then the teeth.

But we really don't want the chocking hazard with kids so that option is out.

Grinding is a subconscious habit so its not like sucking your thumb

where we can monitor the child and remind them to stop.

Grinding is just something you are going to have to live with.

There are only very rare cases where childhood grinding

has ever caused any real damage to a child's teeth.

A child's teeth only are around for a few years anyway.

So the teeth that are being ground on usually are not around

long enough to have any real damage done to them.

do they look a little shorter? Yes. Is it a big problem? No.

And the best thing about this entire issue is that almost all of the

kids that grind their teeth when they are young will stop doing so

as they enter the teenage years. No one knows why for sure

but by the time they are teens most kids have kicked the habit.

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My Crown Just Fell off!!!

You are eating a meal and all of a sudden you feel something crunchy.

You search for the crunchy item with your tongue and pull the item out.

Its one of your crowns!

You don't know how it happened but it just came off.

First Rule: Do not panic.

Crowns can come off for several reasons.

Some of these reasons are very very easy to fix.

So just because your crown came off does not mean that its the end of the world.

First thing to do is to look into the crown.

If its empty then things are in good shape.

This means that the cement that holds the crown on simply broke loose and you just need to get it re-cemented.

If there is a bunch of stuff in the tooth then you may have a little more of a problem on your hands.

What is in the crown may be fragments of the tooth. If there are a lot of fragments then you may need to have a new crown made due to the fact that that one may not fit any longer.

So until you can get to the dentist to find out exactly which case is yours, what can you do?

Try to stick it back on.

If it fits snuggly then you may just be able to baby it until you get in to the dentist.

If it fits loosely then you can simply put a bit of toothpaste into it and then stick it back on.

The toothpaste will make up the difference in the fit of the crown and help keep it on.

Call your dentist ASAP and get his/her opinion.

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Bad Breath

What is the cause of bad breath??

There are many causes.

Teeth that are decayed.

Gum disease.

Bacteria.

Digestion problems.

Etc.

One of the first things to do in order to determine the cause of your

bad breath is to get to a dentist and get a good cleaning.

This will make sure you start off with a clean slate.

Then.....

For 2 weeks commit to brushing after each meal.

For 2 weeks commit to flossing daily.

And for 2 weeks commit to rinsing with a mouthwash such as Listerine, daily.

(Important note: You also need to brush your tongue.

Tongue scrapers, pictured below, are also available.)

After the 2 week period see how your breath is.

If it still smells as fresh and clean as it did when you left the dentist office

then your bad breath was, more then likely, a result of poor oral care.

This would be good news because all you need to do is continue

your new pattern of brushing, flossing, and rinsing and your bad breath should be history.

If things return to there normal, bad breath, state then other things need to be considered.

Best thing to do is see your dentist and see if he/she can find the cause.

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Thumb Sucking

Is allowing your child to suck their thumb a bad thing?

Yesterday I talked about letting your child suck on a pacifier and basically said that I had no problem with that.

I feel, that letting your child suck on their thumb is something completely different.

The biggest reason for this is the pressure that can be applied by the child's finger to the teeth and roof of the mouth.

A pacifier is passive. No force is applied by it. On the other hand, a child can use their thumb to apply a tremendous amount of force.

This force can have multiple side effects.

One of those side effects is that the upper front teeth are actually forced upward and outward.

With the teeth in this position it would become impossible for those teeth to function as they were designed to. The front teeth are meant to cut pieces of food into smaller pieces before they are moved to the back teeth for grinding it down before swallowing. If the upper front teeth do not touch the lower front teeth then it would be very difficult to cut through anything.

the next problem with teeth that do not touch would be that a child's speech patterns would be changed. During the formation of certain sounds the tongue needs to rest against the upper front teeth. If the upper front teeth are not in the proper position then the sounds made by the child will not come out as they should.

So what can be done to stop a child from thumb sucking?

There are lots and lots of ideas out there.

Some people choose the simple idea of painting hot sauce on their child's finger. Hopefully they still love you after that.

The next idea is to place an appliance in the child's mouth like the one below. The balls the sit on the wire prevent the child from getting any suction thus the child gets less satisfaction and gives up.

You can also go the route of putting something on your child's hand. The device below also prevents the child from completely sucking on their thumb.

Point is that you need to get your child to stop sucking on their thumb.

Any of these ideas would work.

The only thing I do not recommend is yelling at your kids. That never really helps anything.

Dr. Ellis on Facebook

Dr. Ellis Website