Thumb sucking – a dental perspective

Cast your mind back to your childhood and those common rites of passage shared by millions.

Learning to sleep without the lights on and mastering the skills of riding a bicycle with the stabilisers off are just two key milestones in that ‘growing up’ period.

Children often develop habits in those early years, too, from nail biting and hair twirling to the more socially unacceptable behaviours of nose picking and speaking with their mouth full – all of which are pretty innocuous and which they usually grow out of rather quickly.

But, for some, old habits die hard or, at least, have a long-lasting effect – and thumb sucking remains one of the top 10 most common habits in which children indulge and which parents wish to break, fearful of the harmful impact it may have on the development of the child's teeth.