Tooth Eruption Times and how this Links to Thumb sucking/Pacifier Use
The use of pacifier or thumb sucking can be harmful to developing dentition if continued after 4 years. If a child is thumb sucking or have a pacifier in his/her mouth while teeth erupting, the front teeth will usually take the shape of the object in the mouth and change the shape of the dentition.
A study showed that teeth misalignment, caries, and gum recession is associated with the use of pacifiers, especially when it is continued after the age of 5 and that is because adult teeth start to erupt at the age of 6 (check permanent eruption table at the bottom of the page). Therefore, the shape of the dentition changes due to the changes occurred in the shape of the mouth before eruption causing open-bite, overjet, and posterior crossbite
Thumb sucking messes up the balance of the muscles in the mouth. Thumb placed in mouth will push the front teeth more forward and pulling back teeth inwards which messes out the bite.
