The influence of sucking habits on occlusion development in the first 36 months

Edson Theodoro Dos Santos Neto,Zilda Fagundes Lima Oliveira,Rodrigo Walter Barbosa,Eliana Zandonade,Adauto Emmerich Oliveira

doi:10.1590/s2176-94512012000400019

Edson Theodoro Dos Santos Neto, Zilda Fagundes Lima Oliveira + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/s2176-94512012000400019

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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the influence of sucking habits on the occlusal characteristics of the deciduous dentition. METHODS: The initial sample consisted of 86 infants, aged 0 to 3 months. Seven home visits were performed, when and information on breastfeeding practice, nutritive and non-nutritive sucking habits, mouth breathing and dentition development was collected. From the first sample, impressions of the dental arches were obtained from 58 children at the age of 36 months (+2.51SD). Dental casts were obtained and two examiners, trained and calibrated by the Kappa and Pearson Correlation tests, measured several parameters of dental occlusion, such as arch length, depth, and width. RESULTS: The results showed that bottle feeding before 6 months was associated to an increased mandibular intermolar width (p=0.01). Pacifier use before 6 months was statistically associated to a reduction of the maxillary intercanine (p=0.03) and intermolar (p=0.03) width. In addition to these findings, the increased molar depth of the maxillary arch was associated to loss of lip closure before the age of 12 months (p= 0.03). CONCLUSION: According to these results, it could be concluded that sucking habits interfere with the determination of some deciduous occlusal characteristics: pacifier sucking limits lateral-lateral maxillary growth, bottle feeding favors lateral-lateral mandibular growth and open bite development, and the lack of lip closure favors the anteroposterior maxillary growth.

Highlights

The craniofacial growth and development, including muscles, bones and teeth, has been investigated by scientists over the last years
The results showed that bottle feeding before 6 months was associated to an increased mandibular intermolar width (p=0.01)
In addition to these findings, the increased molar depth of the maxillary arch was associated to loss of lip closure before the age of 12 months (p= 0.03). According to these results, it could be concluded that sucking habits interfere with the determination of some deciduous occlusal characteristics: pacifier sucking limits lateral-lateral maxillary growth, bottle feeding favors lateral-lateral mandibular growth and open bite development, and the lack of lip closure favors the anteroposterior maxillary growth

Summary

Introduction

The craniofacial growth and development, including muscles, bones and teeth, has been investigated by scientists over the last years. Based on the functional matrix hypothesis of Moss and Salentjin,[1] one can infer that the breastfeeding process would work as a matrix that provides the biomechanical stimuli ideally necessary for craniofacial development.[2,3] nutritive and non-nutritive suction and oral breathing would work as inadequate functional matrices, misshaping the bone and muscle structures that will form the dental spaces.[4,5,6,7] In this context, as teeth erupt and get in contact with all the relations already established, visible and transitory or permanent alterations start to appear. Nutritive or non-nutritive sucking habits, besides their proven effect on the child’s oral health, interfere with the child’s general health status, leading mothers to adopt practices that are deleterious to the health of newborns, such as the reduction of breastfeeding duration,[10] triggering a series of health risks and increasing the risk of death.[11]

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