ORTHODONTICS NIGHTMARE

[Nowastepmom]

Here is my take on this (BTW I am a dentist), sucking ones thumb does not cause too many problems until a child's permanent teeth begin to come  in, which I am assuming is the case since you metioned that she was 9.  With this being the case, you do want to get her to stop ASAP.  Continuing to suck her thumb can not only cause her to have an open bit (when she closes her teeth, there is probably an opening between her top and bottom teeth, Right?), but this can also cause her maxilla (top jaw bone) to begin to grow incorrectly, which can cause major skelatal problems for her later, which could only be fixed by surgery.  So first off, like I stated before, stopping sucking her thumb is very important right now.

Second, the way that I work, when I send a person to a local orthodontist here (actually it is a person that I went to dental school with), I do not get any type of kickback (actually I believe that this is illegal, but not sure on that one).  What I do get in return is this orthodontist refers patients back to me that need general dental work done.  This is how most dentists, orthodontists, periodontists, etc work.  You wash my back, I will wash yours.

Third, get a second opinion to soothe this woman's opinion.  9 is definately not too young, like I said, especially for a thumb sucker.  Quite a few orthodontists are beginning to start ortho earlier when there is a mixed dentition (both baby teeth and permanent teeth in the mouth) with a high degree of success.  The belief is that the dentition will become more stable when the ortho is done earlier, as well as the orthodontist can prevent some of the skelatal abnormalities that can occur as a child is growing.  Generally skelatal abnormalities cannot be changed by braces, as braces move teeth but not bones, except when done when the child is young.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to ask me.  Good luck with your endeavor, and definately get your daughter to stop sucking her thumb.

[antonin]

Thanks so much!