Oral Habits and its Prevention in Children

Abstract

A habit is a repetitive action that is being done automatically and is resistant to change. In the infantile period, certain repetitive behaviours are common, the majority of them begin and stop spontaneously. If oral habits persist beyond a particular developmental age, it results in unfavourable outcomes for the developing teeth, occlusion and surrounding orofacial tissues. Oral habits are considered one of the main causes of malocclusion, leading to unfavourable growth and development of dentoalveolar, which starts in the early childhood and mixed dentition stage. The severity of malocclusion depends on the frequency, duration, and intensity of the habit. Early detection and interception of the habit should be done by parent/child habit awareness and counselling, elimination, etiology, behaviour modifications and correction of malocclusion.