How to prevent your baby from having bad oral habits?
During the baby’s growth, there will be oral problems such as tooth decay, interdental gaps, irregular dentition, retention of deciduous teeth (permanent teeth have erupted, but deciduous teeth have not fallen out), and bad oral habits. . The OASH Mother’s Classroom helps parents to strengthen their understanding of their baby’s oral knowledge, prevent bad oral habits in time, and let their children have healthy and tidy teeth!
What are the bad oral habits of children?
Bad oral habits are not only a reflection of a child’s physical or psychological problems but will also unknowingly affect the normal development of the entire oral and maxillofacial region and even the overall physical and mental development in the future.
Mouth breathing: The killer of children’s appearance, such as mouth breathing and drooling during sleep, mouth slightly open in a relaxed state; under normal circumstances, we breathe through the nasal cavity, and the position of the tongue is attached to the upper jaw. For some reason, children use it instead. After mouth breathing, the lips naturally open, and the tongue retracts in order to make way for the breath, losing the strength to support the dental arch, and the cheek muscles tightening due to the opening of the mouth, giving the dental arch adducted force, two forces. Long-term imbalance can cause narrowing of the dental arch, and the narrowed dental arch can cause the front teeth to turn out and become buck teeth, or cause crowding and long faces due to the insufficient position of the dental arch to place the teeth. The tongue is retracted, and the airway is still partially blocked. At this time, in order to breathe more smoothly, the child will choose to raise the head to open the airway, resulting in a hunchback.
Abnormal swallowing function: Abnormal swallowing, also known as “infant swallowing”, is a way of swallowing before teething (feeding and liquid feeding stage), that is, the tongue is placed between the upper and lower gums, and the lips and cheeks are contracted forcefully. Sucking, pumping, and swallowing. Under normal circumstances, this way of swallowing will disappear after the teeth erupt. If the child maintains the swallowing way of sucking milk for a long time after teething, it is easy to form double dental arch protrusion and open jaw.
★Sucking habits: finger sucking, nail biting, bottle syndrome, etc. Before one year of age, finger sucking can be considered a normal physiological phenomenon. After one year of age, most children’s finger-sucking habit will disappear naturally. Once the habit of sucking fingers after the age of three or even into adulthood is no longer a normal phenomenon, it is a manifestation of a mental illness that needs to be paid enough attention to.
★ Tongue sticking out: Like finger sucking, if sticking out the tongue does not subside or even form a habit after one year old, it will have a great impact on the development of dentition and maxillofacial area.
★Bite the lip: Not only will it deform the lips and teeth, affecting the appearance, but also affect the chewing function of the teeth due to the deformation of the upper and lower teeth, and even some may cause mucous gland cysts.
How to prevent your baby from having bad oral habits?
- Correct feeding method: cradle type and side-lying type can be used for breastfeeding, while bottle feeding should not let the baby lie down to drink milk, so as to avoid incorrect occlusal relationships such as earth wrapping.
- The time limit for using the pacifier should be cautious. Generally, around the age of 1-2, the child’s dependence on the pacifier should be gradually weaned off. Long-term use is not conducive to the growth of children’s facial and jaw development.
- The child’s bad lip biting, abnormal swallowing, mouth breathing, and other oral habits, gradually induce withdrawal.
- If it is difficult to get rid of bad oral habits under the guidance of parents, after the age of 3, after the child has a certain sense of cooperation, consult a pediatric orthodontist for early intervention and correction.
Go to the professional dental office
The age of diagnosis and treatment of children’s oral cavities is under 18 years old. The purpose of children’s oral treatment is not only to restore the shape and function of damaged teeth and dentition but also to consider their changes in the process of growth and development. Children’s oral problems are a separate disease that is different from adult oral diseases. Because children are in the growth and development period, their oral diseases are different from adults’ oral-related diseases. It is impossible to generalize the methods of adults to solve disease problems. Therefore dental offices should assemble advanced dental instruments and materials supplies, and experienced dentists. Child parents can take a sliding guide of dental instruments and restorative materials in-office options, even child dentistry treatment will be a complex surgery possible.
With the popularization of children’s oral disease education and the attention paid to children’s oral diseases by parents, children’s oral patients are a type of patient who has seen an increasing number of dental visits in recent years. It shows that the incidence of oral caries among children in my country is on the rise, and dental caries in children will also bring a series of adverse effects on children’s own physical and psychological development.
At present, the common diseases of children’s oral cavities are mainly caries, malalignment, and dental trauma.
Compared with adults, deciduous tooth caries has a wider range of lesions, rapid progress, and greater harm. The deciduous teeth can suffer from caries soon after the eruption, rise in a straight line at about 1 year old, and reach a peak at 7 or 8 years old. The incidence of caries in children’s deciduous teeth mainly depends on poor feeding habits, excessive intake of baked food, and inadequate oral hygiene. If children’s caries are not treated in time, they will easily progress to pulpitis or even apical periodontitis, which will affect the replacement of permanent teeth. Therefore, the task of preventing caries in deciduous teeth is urgent for parents and children’s dentists.
Misalignment is another common problem in children’s oral cavities. A considerable number of children with misaligned teeth are caused by dental disease or bad oral habits. Most children with misaligned teeth have some bad habits, such as mouth breathing, lip biting, finger sucking, tongue sticking, and so on. For such cases, early intervention measures should be taken as much as possible to help children overcome bad habits while correcting the existing malocclusion and preventing further progress of the malocclusion.