CHILDREN'S TEETH

New Zealand Listener, Volume 41, Issue 1051, 16 October 1959, Page 26

CHILDREN'S TEETH

The text of a talk broadcast recently from National and Commercial stations by DR

H. B.

TURBOTT

, Director- General of Health

SEVERAL habits may affect the shape of the jaws and position of teeth. Please notice I said "may," not "will." Thumb-sucking, for example, sometimes does damage, but often does no harm. It depends on the age of the child, the state of eruption of the teeth, and how long, and with how much force the thumb-sucking goes on. With a little baby, say three months to one year, who occasionally sucks the thumb, with no great force and for short spells, you wouldn’t worry at all. This is a normal procedure and does no harm. But supPosing your pre-school child aged four to five years or primary school child of five and six years, is always sucking the thumb, and having a real good go at it, harm can occur. The second teeth are being cut now, and these erupting top jaw incisor teeth can be pushed out frontwards. At the same time, if the thumb presses down on the lower cutting teeth, these are pushed in towards the tongue. The result is what the dentist calls an "open" bite, and what you recognise as buck teeth spoiling the appearance, What are you to do about thumbsucking? Regard it as of no importance during the first two years. Still do so between two and five years as long as it is occasional-for example, when going to sleep or after punishment. You may have to take notice if it is an almost constant habit, and the first teeth seem to be getting out of line. A six-year-old or older child can do harm, and, as it is easier to prevent the malocclusion than cure it, such a child should be helped out of the habit. Not by punishing or scolding or nagging! Nor by putting bitter substances on the thumb! Explain what can happen to the child, and if you can find a picture of a bucktoothed person, that will help understanding. Your dental nurse or dentist may have a model set of teeth showing the deformity that can occur, which they will be pleased to demonstrate. The child will want to drop the habit when there is comprehension of the possible damage and spoiling of looks. Reminders

could be a tiny thumb bandage for a boy, some nail polish for a girl. If thumbsucking is stopped before the fifth year, any damage may correct itself. If continued after that and damage occurs, as it almost inevitably will, dental treatment is imperative to get the teeth back into line and restore the proper bite and jaw. shape. Mouth breathing between five and 15 years of age is very common. Mostly it is due to some nasal blocking, or to enlarged tonsils and adenoids, and the doctor’s advice should be sought to determine whether there is abnormality or not. Having the abnormality corrected will still leave the child a mouth breather unless conscious effort is made to use the nose. If there is no obstruc- ' tive cause, mouth-breathing is simply a habit. Little children often have the open mouth habit in daytime, and this is quite usual and normal in sleep for babies and toddlers. But they are probably still using their noses for breathing. It is mouth breathing of school children that should be corrected. When the lower jaw is down from behind the upper front teeth, the tongue rests against these now, instead of against the lower front teeth. Also the lower lip drops away from in front of those upper teeth. The upper teeth, having lost this lower lip restraint, and being pressed by the tongue, are pushed out frontways in school child constant mouth breathers. Hence, if just a habit, the child should be encouraged to try to stop it. If he can’t on his own, your dentist will be able to help.. Nail-biting, and other biting habits, chewing pencils, biting lips, etc., begin in the fourth or fifth years and may continue right through life at times of tension, for nail-biting is a tension relieving habit, like cigarette smoking, arid gum-chewing. Nail-biting, and other biting habits exerting force along the long axis of the tooth instead of across this axis as in sucking habits, do not spoil the bite unless very forceful indeed. Such habits are a signal to search for causes of tension, rather than to worry about tooth misplacements,