Noxious Oral Habits

Thumb sucking, tongue sucking, nail biting, hair chewing, pacifier sucking past a certain age, etc. can have a negative impact on the development of your face and jaw bones. When children grow up sucking their thumbs, the shape of the palate grows high and narrow, and a tongue thrusting habit is often formed. High, narrow dental arches mean less available space for erupting permanent teeth and smaller nasal floors, making it harder to breathe through the nose.

Poor tongue resting posture (down in the floor of the mouth rather than up in the palate) and mouth breathing go hand in hand, and can lead to sleep breathing disorders. Working with your myofunctional therapist to break these habits at a young age, along with follow-up therapy to re-educate the affected muscles can show great promise in recovering these oral structures.