I’m Having Fits About My Child’s Thumbsucking?

First, let's put the pacifier down and step away from the baby bottle!

Thumbsucking is a natural behavior observed in young humans and in primates. It is a reflexive action where almost anything put in an infant's mouth will be suckled repeatedly and rhythmically. This reflex helps during intake from breastfeeding, and is said to help the child's chances of survival.

The act of thumbsucking brings feelings of pleasure to an infant, promoting the release of several neurotransmitters including dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and other endogenous opioids (endorphins) in the brain. Digit sucking at this time is thought to somewhat replace the pleasure of breastfeeding. This thumb-or-finger-in-the-mouth behavior (they are in the oral-anal stage, after all) can start in the womb as early as 15 weeks after conception and  usually stops after about four months after birth, but can last longer (even into adulthood, in some rare cases).

But caution must be exercised --and hands must be frequently washed--because putting an unclean thumb in the mouth exposes your child's oral cavity to germs which may cause oral infections, or sickness. And if enough force is used in the act of sucking over a period of time, the upper teeth can deviate from their normal positions causing an anterior open bite.

Speech problems can develop, such as lisping. Tongue thrusting may accompany thumbsucking in some patients. Also, the skin of the involved thumb or fingers can become dry, calloused, peeled, cracked, infected, and even prone to bleeding.

There are many products on the market that may help stop the habit.Thumbguard.com offers a plastic device placed over the thumb or fingers so that the seal between the thumb skin and mouth mucosa is broken and the usual pleasure is not experienced. It must be placed and removed daily by an adult. Its rigidity may make writing or coloring with the hand difficult. Yourhandaid.com offers a custom, flexible cover for the thumb or fingers that's skin toned. Folica.com offers a couple of liquids that can be painted on the thumb or nail to discourage the habit. Those liquids are said to have a bitter taste.

In my practice, I have heard of some parents using hot sauce to stop the child's habit. But in some of those cases, the children started liking the hot sauce, so that deterrent was defeated. In some cases, the atmosphere of making the older child stop the habit may devolve into a power struggle with the parent(s), where the child might say, "It's my thumb and I'll do what I want with it!"

May you have many…pleasure activated, it’s my grin and I’ll smile if I want to, both of my kids are real (   )… smiles!

The Noun “Smile” In Other Languages!

What are other names for the smile? Well, I looked on the Internet to get the noun form of smile. Here’s what I came up with: 

Spanish: sonrisa. Czech: usmev. Arabic: ibtasem. Portugese: sorriso.   German: lacheln. Italian: sorriso. French: sourire. Afrikaans: glimlag.

Azerbaijani: tabassum.  Basque: irribarre. Latin: ridet. Irish: mionghaire. Croatian: osmijeh. Danish: smil. Estonian: naeratus. Filipino: ngiti. Finnish: hymy. Catalan: somriure. Galician: sorriso

Haitian Creole: souri. Hindi: mucarat. Hungarian: mosoly. Icelandic: bros. Indonesian: senyum. Japanese: egao or waratte. Latvian: smaids. Lithuanian: sypsena. Macedonian: hacmebka. Malay: senyuman. Maltese: tbissima.

Norwegian: smile. Polish: usmiech. Romanian: zambet. Russian: ulibka. Serbian: ocmex. Slovenian: nasmeh. swahili: smile. Swedish: leende. Turkish: tebessum. Vietnamese: nu cuoi. Welsh: gwenu or wen. Zulu: ukumamatheka.

(From translate.google.com and others)

May you have many…beautiful smiles are on all of the continents, smoothly verbal and nonverbal, actions are louder than words…smiles!

Missing Some Teeth? Try Implants!

If you have a missing tooth or teeth, you have options for replacement. You can get a removable partial denture, but you have to put it in and take it out of the mouth to properly care for it. You also have a choice to have a fixed bridge made, that you don’t have to put in and take out, but it entails preparing crowns on the teeth that are on both sides of the space, and they will connect with the replacement tooth (pontic) in the middle. Bridges must be meticulously cared for, or they can quickly fall victim to decay at the gingival margin edges of the new crowns.

Besides also doing nothing about the space, you also have a fourth choice-- a dental implant-- that is fixed in the mouth, and you don’t have to sacrifice the neighboring teeth to make it work.

How many teeth need replacing, the condition and amount of the bone that will hold the implant, the oral hygiene level practiced, and the general health of the patient are all factors that help to determine implant success or failure. Children usually haven’t developed enough to routinely receive implants. 

Adults that having potential healing or immunological problems need to be realistic about whether an implant will “take” or not before they dive into getting them. For some patients, implants are just stucturally contraindicated.  And implants do have a failure rate (peri-implantitis). They are relatively expensive, so before you commit to that treatment, it is good to know your real chances that an implant will successfully serve you for many years.

The implant itself is usually a metallic cylinder which looks almost like the root of a tooth. It is made of surgical-quality titanium, with a roughened surface that can intimately bond with the bone around it. X-rays and a CT scan may be taken and a guide may be constructed to help place the implant in the most optimum position—away from important neurovascular bundles. 

After numbing the implant area of the mouth really well, the hole in the bone that will support the implant root is prepared. An implant of proper width and length is then inserted, and bone graft material may be placed around the implant to insure that enough bone is present, so it will securely attach to the jaws. 

Then the gums are sutured over the implant, which is then left alone, not participating in the bite, for about four months to “osseo-integrate” and bond directly to the adjacent bone. Later, it is uncovered.  An abutment and a crown are made to go on top.  Now it’s ready to use and enjoy!

Implant-supported full dentures are now possible for superior retention and looks.

So, In many ways, dental implants may give people a second chance for a better smile!

May you have many…the best money can buy, beautifully bionic, stronger than kryptonite… smiles!

Smile Quotations, Part 4.

When deep in the middle of your passion…smile! -Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

Reading body language is one thing, but reading facial and lip language is more exciting and can intimately reflect the real feelings of one's soul.-Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

Every smile makes you a day younger.-Chinese Proverb

I enjoy jokes, smiling, and making people smile. I may be a little different, but that's OK, who wants to be normal anyway? -Tim Duncan

But God can only smile because only God can know what is coming next. -Desmond Tutu

I've never seen a smiling face that was not beautiful.-Author Unknown

Life is like a mirror, we get the best results when we smile at it.-Author Unknown

A smile costs about $240.-Roma Downey

I truly believe my job is to make sure people smile.-Shahrukh Khan

It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile.-Sting

Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning and you'll start to see a big difference in your life.-Yoko Ono

Sinister smiles have long limbs. –Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

A smile can brighten the darkest day.-Author Unknown

If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.-Andy Rooney

Smile — sunshine is good for your teeth.-Author Unknown

There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
-Billie Holiday

What looks like enjoyment is the sneer of contempt. That's not a smile.-Jack Kevorkian

Throw yourself a kiss in the mirror…you’re beautiful!-Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

Why, I can smile and murder whiles I smile. -William Shakespeare

There was a girl named Jill,

Who loved to roll down hills.

One day she rolled down fast past Jack

And almost broke her grill. –Ralph Winge, D.D.S.

May you have many…sugary sweet memories, mesmerized by Shakespeare, please tell me another one… smiles!

How Many Teeth Do People Normally Have In Their Mouths?

Children under the age of six usually have twenty primary teeth, ten on the top and ten on the bottom. Adults usually have thirty-two permanent teeth. In my practice there are many adults who either don't have their third molars (wisdom teeth) erupted into the mouth or didn't develop them to begin with (congenitally missing teeth, or hypodontia or partial anodontia).

I also have patients with congenitally missing teeth other than the third molars; however, most of them are in the permanent set. If a primary tooth in the back of the mouth doesn't have a permanent one (bicuspid) under it, that primary tooth just may stay in the mouth for a while... sometimes a long while. I see evidence of congenitally missing lateral incisors in the top front of the mouth next to the two middle front teeth (central incisors) with some frequency.

Another anomaly seen in the mouth is extra teeth, or supernumerary teeth (hyperdontia), of which there is no specific cause that we can pin down (this condition may genetically run in families). The most common supernumerary tooth seen is called a mesiodens, which is seen located on or near the midline of the upper jaw, and can deflect the directional growth or even block the permanent incisors from erupting.

I have even seen multiple mesiondens in one patient and have noticed them in all the siblings of the same family I treated. This lets me know that there is likely a familial (hereditary or genetics-based) component involved, but it is said that a simple Mendelian pattern is not followed.

Supernumerary teeth have different shapes and are seen in otherwise normal, healthy people, and may be “accidentally” discovered with a routine set of x-rays. Multiple supernumeraries have been observed in people with serious disorders like Gardner's syndrome (which may also manifest itself with multiple polyps inside and outside the colon) and cleidocranial dysostosis (a general skeletal condition).

Unerupted supernumerary teeth are generally asymptomatic. Identalhub.com relates that in the permanent set of teeth, the incidence of supernumerary teeth seen in males is twice that seen in females.  The occurrence of supernumeraries can be single or multiple, erupted (25%) or unerupted (75%), in the upper (95%), lower (5%) or both jaws, in the front or back of the mouth, and unilateral or bilateral. Extra teeth have been diagnosed more in permanent dentitions than in primary dentitions.

Extraction of supernumeraries may be necessary if they are in the way of other erupting teeth or look "uncosmetic” (if they are erupted).

In some cases involving extra teeth, “the more, the merrier,” may not necessarily apply. Check with your dentist to see if you have something “extra” about your teeth!

May you have many…full blown, extra and special, count with my fingers, toes, and teeth… smiles!