General Info about Thumb Sucking
Thumb sucking in children
has always caused embarrassment to many parents. The parents were more concerned over the social embarrassment caused by this habit rather than the actual physical damage caused by it.
This silly habit as it appears to many parents not only causes abnormally arranged teeth but also implicates the mental state of the child.
Steps To Stop Thumb Sucking
“Amy must stop sucking her thumb! She is damaging her upper palate and distorting her teeth”
With those words ringing in her ears, Cathy Sawbridge left her dentist where she had taken her 2 year old daughter for a check up. She resolved to help her stop the thumb sucking habit, but how?
She tried all the old techniques: foul tasting paint, star charts and rewards, nagging her… All with little or no success! When Amy was tired in went the thumb.
Then she found the answer! A discreet medical grade plastic guard which sits over the thumb and is fixed firmly around the wrist with secure brightly coloured bracelets. It works by preventing the child making a seal over their thumb and thereby preventing suction, so they cannot suck.
Amy wore it 24/7. Cathy took it off daily to wash, replacing it with another bracelet. Cathy says “I made the whole experience fun, we colour co-ordinated the bracelets with her clothes each day. She wore it proudly to playgroup and explained to all who would listen it was to help her stop sucking her thumb. It did not inhibit her daily activities at all.”