Thumb SUCKING

Beth - posted on 02/13/2009

No, it was "installed" by the dentist. I think he wore it around 6 or 8 months.

Emilee - posted on 02/06/2009

There is a something to paint on his thumb with a bad taste, or just use "one size fits all gloves" at bedtime. not too bulky and if he wants to stop too.... he may fall asleep with out it and then not notice the gloves, worked for me

Carrie - posted on 02/06/2009

Quoting Beth:

I hope this helps. Our dental insurance paid for half of it, but it was still pretty expensive. I think our portion was around $300, but it was worth it.

Holy Cow, that's expensive. But well worth it if it can save the cost of braces.  Was the appliance something that you had to put in each night?  Was it hard to get your son to comply?  My 4 yr old daughter is also a thumb sucker.  I thought it was good that neither of them used a pacifier as a baby, but now I'm not so sure. At least you can throw the pacifier away.

Beth - posted on 02/06/2009

Our son sucked his thumb until first grade when our dentist suggested putting in an appliance designed so he couldn't get his thumb into the roof of his mouth. I don't remember the name of the appliance, but I'll try to describe it. On each of the top back teeth there was a band that went all the way around the tooth, like when we had braces. There was a wire that was connected to each band, and it ran along the inside, behind his top teeth, but the only place it was connected was to the back teeth. When it got to the front teeth four teeth, there were several loops, or hills and valleys, that prevented my son from being able to get a good seal with his thumb against the roof of his mouth. My son only sucked his thumb when he was asleep, and after about a week of wearing the appliance he said he couldn't even remember which thumb he sucked.



I think we still have the appliance somewhere. If you'd like, I'll see if I can find it and email you a picture.



I hope this helps. Our dental insurance paid for half of it, but it was still pretty expensive. I think our portion was around $300, but it was worth it.

Carrie - posted on 02/06/2009

Does he suck his thumb all the time, or just at bedtime?  My son is 7 1/2 and still sucks his thumb also.  He tends to only suck his thumb when he's tired. He'd never do it at school or in front of anyone outside of the family.  Some nights we've tried putting a bandaid on the sucking thumb, which helps.  He wants to stop, but it's such a habit that he says he just forgets to keep it out of his mouth.  So the bandaid is a little reminder.  I've also heard of people painting the thumb w/ that "NO Bite" stuff that they use to help people stop biting their fingernails.  I haven't tried that yet, but it might work.  Good Luck.