Which oral habits can cause dental abnormalities?

– Sucking habits: Sucking thumb or finger too often or too intensive (also in older children or adults). Tongue and lip sucking.  Sucking on a pacifier too long or too intensive or a bottle teat are also abnormal sucking habits. It is generally known that abnormal sucking behaviors leads to an abnormal position of teeth and / or jaws.

– Little chewing, babies get their food pureed and modern food is often processed and soft.

– Mouth breathing: The function of the nose consists, among other things, of moistening, heating and cleaning the inhaled air. With mouth breathing, this beneficial property is canceled. The consequences are often recurrent throat infections, tonsils or even middle ear infections. We often see with mouth breathing that as a result of the loss of pressure from the lips on the teeth, the front teeth stand up. There is also a narrow palate and drool to a greater or lesser extent. When mouth breathing one hyperventilates which results in less oxigen reaching the organs like the brains.

– Biting habits, eg finger, nail or lip biting; or clamping, grinding and the like. This can have a harmful effect on the jaw joint, causing muscles to be overloaded. Other muscle groups in the mouth may also be adversely affected.

– Deviant swallowing behavior: Deviant swallowing behavior is usually accompanied by tongue pressing, forward and/or to the side. The abnormal position of the tongue has major consequences for chewing food, forming a  bolus and swallowing. Finally, it has implications for speech. A different swallowing pattern almost always has consequences for the position of the teeth and the shape of the jaw.