Importance of early orthodontic treatment in children

Oral habit all we need to know about it!! Habits are learned pattern of muscle contraction of a complex nature. Some abnormal oral habits interfe...

Oral habit – all we need to know about it!!

Habits are learned pattern of muscle contraction of a complex nature. Some abnormal oral habits interfere with the regular pattern of growth and play an important role in facial growth including dental teeth alignment. 

Common oral habits that interfere with dental teeth alignment are: 1) Thumb sucking: Placement of thumb in mouth leads to tilting of front teeth and adversely affect the alignment of the teeth.  2) Tongue thrusting: Forward placement of tongue between the teeth leads to gap between top and bottom front teeth also called as proclined teeth. 3) Mouth breathing: Breathing through mouth instead of nose with evident signs of drooping of saliva while child is sleeping leads to narrow arch form and cross bite.

Management: Treatment with habit breaking appliance helps to eliminate the cause and interception of the habit to correct the oral habit in children.

Underdeveloped or overdeveloped jaws – attention!! A disproportion in the size or position of the jaws results in a skeletal discrepancy like: - Over-developed upper jaw (gummy smile and large maxilla) - Under-developed small lower jaw (Deficient and retruded mandible) - Over-developed lower jaw (excessive and large mandible) - Under-developed upper jaw (deficient and small maxilla)