- Although pacifiers can be lifesavers,
parents are often well aware
of the potential dental issues that can result
due to pacifier use.
These include an overbite, an underbite,
misaligned teeth, changes in the roof of the mouth,
as well as other issues.
The good news is that it's possible
to give your baby a pacifier,
yet avoid the problems it can cause
by following these five simple steps.
The best way to prevent the negative effects
of pacifier use is early weaning.
The American Academy of Pediatrics
and the American Academy of Family Physicians
recommend weaning children from pacifiers
in the second six months of life
to reduce the risk of ear infections.
I also recommend ceasing the use of a pacifier at this age
for a number of reasons.
Firstly, at six months of age,
babies generally have the ability to fall asleep
without the use of a pacifier,
and therefore they don't require them to fall asleep.
Also, at this age,
babies can become really dependent
on pacifiers to fall asleep,
and this can result in the pacifier starting
to negatively influence a baby's sleep
and result in more frequent night wakings,
as well as shorter naps.
Secondly, constantly sucking on a pacifier
when awake stops a baby from being able to mouth toys,
which is how they actually play at six months of age,
and it makes it more challenging
for the baby to make those cooing noises
and start to babble, which are the early stages
of developing one's communication skills.
And this can negatively influence
their fine motor development
as well as their language development.
Thirdly, baby start teething around this age
and they may accidentally pierce
or break the pacifier when they chew on them
in an attempt to alleviate that teething pain.
And lastly, which I think is the most important factor,
it is generally easier to remove a pacifier
at this age compared to removing a pacifier from a toddler.
Now, if you don't want to remove the pacifier
at six months of age and it's not having a negative impact
on your little one's sleep, then the next thing you want to do
is plan to wean your baby off
the pacifier by two years of age.
Research shows that adverse dental effects can be seen
in children who continue to use the pacifier
after two years of age,
with the most significant malocclusions occurring
in children who continue to use
the pacifier past four years of age.
Warren and team clearly illustrated these findings
in their study, which showed that only 14% of children
had misaligned teeth if they ceased sucking
before two years of age, compared to 32% of children
who had misaligned teeth if they ceased sucking
between three and four years of age,
and then there were 71% of children
who had misaligned teeth
if they continue to suck past four years of age.
Therefore, to reduce the likelihood
of your little one developing dental issues,
definitely plan to ween them off the pacifier
before two years of age.
Now, before we cover the next best thing
you can do to minimize the risk
of your little one developing dental problems in the future,
if you haven't already, make sure you click
on the link in the description box below
to get the free developmental milestone chart
so you'll know what to expect in regards
to your baby's development in that first year of life.
In addition to age, we also know that the intensity
and frequency of the sucking can heavily influence
whether or not dental problems occur in the future.
Therefore, another really simple way
that you can minimize the risk of your little one
developing severe dental problems in the future
is by limiting their use of the pacifier.
And by that I mean giving your child a pacifier
to use when they need it for soothing,
like during nap times and bedtimes.
Now, if your baby is very attached to their pacifier
and usually has it the whole day,
you may need to take a more gradual approach.
And first remove the pacifier
from environments where your child is generally happy,
but keep using it in environments
which they find a little bit stressful.
So for example, if your child is at home,
happy and playing,
you might remove that pacifier, but continue
to offer the pacifier when they're traveling in the car
or they're outside.
Then once they become comfortable with this,
you might only offer the pacifier for nap times or bedtime.
Now, if you cannot or do not want to stop your baby
from using a pacifier in their second six months of life,
you can consider switching to using an orthodontic pacifier.
Orthodontic pacifiers have rounded tops
and a flat bottom that are meant to help minimize
the risk of a child developing dental issues,
by not interfering with the normal development
of their jaw bone and their palate.
However, before you consider switching pacifiers,
which often isn't easy, it's important to note
that research indicates prolonged use of any pacifier,
including orthodontic pacifiers,
can lead to a child developing misalignment of their teeth.
And this finding was supported
in a randomized control trial
which was completed by Adair and his team,
where they actually compared the teeth alignment
of two year old children all the way
up to five year old children who had actually
just used the orthodontic pacifiers,
and they compared their teeth alignment
against the children who had used
just those conventional pacifiers,
as well as against children who had no sucking habits.
And in this study, they found out two things.
Firstly, the children who used any kind of pacifier,
so whether or not that was that orthodontic pacifier
or the conventional pacifiers,
were more likely to develop dental problems
in the future when they were compared
with the children who had no sucking habits.
They also found that the children who used
those orthodontic pacifiers were more likely
to have a less severe overbite when they were compared
to the children who used the conventional pacifiers.
However, the measurement of the overbite difference
was less than 0.5 millimeters, so it's not significant.
So it's important to remember
that simply switching to an orthodontic pacifier
or only using an orthodontic pacifier
is not going to stop your little one
from developing dental problems in the future.
Using alternative methods to comfort your baby
or toddler before offering them a pacifier
is also another way that you can help to minimize
the risk of your child developing dental problems
in the future.
Now, don't get me wrong,
in the newborn phase, up until six months of age,
sucking on a pacifier is an extremely effective way
to soothe a fussing or crying baby,
and should definitely be used.
But after six months of age,
you'll notice that your child will start to cry
and fuss to communicate something to you.
So for example,
they might start crying when they're lying on their back
under the play gym to let you know that they're bored.
Or they might start fussing because they're hungry.
And as they become toddlers, they might start crying
because they can't work out how to play with a toy,
but stop as soon as you help them.
In these everyday situations,
it's important to work out what your little one
is communicating to you and address the underlying issue,
rather than defaulting to popping that pacifier
into their mouth to quieten them down.
So for example, if your toddler becomes upset
because you need to leave the playground,
instead of giving them the pacifier,
you could give them a cuddle and say,
it's hard leaving the park, do you want to cuddle
or do you want to cuddle your snuggy?
Teaching your child a new way to cope
with those big emotions like sadness, frustration,
and anger, instead of actually using a pacifier
as a first line of defense will reduce the amount of time
your little one sucks on the pacifier throughout the day.
And this will reduce the likelihood
of them developing dental problems in the future.
Now, if you are ready to ditch the pacifier,
but not sure how to go about it,
then make sure you watch this video next
to find out how to ditch the pacifier for good
with minimal fuss.
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