Sucking habits and their relation to posterior cross‐bite in 4‐year‐old children

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Abstract
Abstract – Sucking habits and their relationship to posterior cross‐bite were studied in 4‐year‐old children (n = 588) living in the municipality of Huddinge on the outskirts of Stockholm. Previous or persisting sucking habits were registered for 88% of the children with dummy sucking as the dominating type (78%). At the age of 4 years 48% of all children still exhibited some form of sucking habit. The incidence of normal buccolingual occlusion steadily decreased in cases where sucking habits persisted. The increase in unilateral cross‐bite occurreoce was most pronounced in cases where the children continued sucking after 2 years of age. The variable “intensity of sucking habit” was significantly correlated to the occurrence of unilateral cross‐bite (P<0.05). From a dental point of view these results indicate that sucking habits in children should be brought under control by 2 years of age.