The negative effects of thumb sucking

There are several negative effects that a child who sucks their thumb might suffer from. The first negative effect is that the child is going to have some dental problems. Basically these dental problems are going to mean that the child’s teeth are not going to align as they’re supposed to. Therefore, the child’s teeth might be pushed outward causing the child had a bad overbite. This is one of the main reasons that the child needs to learn how to stop thumb sucking or wear a thumb sucking guard at night when the child is sleeping.

The second negative effect of thumb sucking is that the child could have some difficulties with their speech. This is especially true if the child is still sucking their thumb when their permanent teeth are coming in. Therefore, some of the sounds that could be coming out of the child’s mouth is going to be distorted. Again a great way to help is this problem is to have the child wear a thumb guard at night when they sleep (so they do not end up with a lisp as they can older). The child’s tongue could also be affected by the thumb sucking so the child might have some problems with their swallowing.

The third negative effect of thumb sucking is that the child is going to be spreading a lot of germs to other people who might be around the child. This is especially true if the child is already in school. Germs can spread like crazy when the child is in school. Leading us into our fourth negative effect, which is that the child’s thumb could become infected by causing sores to appear on the thumb. This could be one of the main reasons that the child should learn how to stop sucking thumb to prevent this effect.

The fifth negative effect is that the child could get teased by their peers. This is especially true if the child is in elementary school and they have not learned to stop thumb sucking at their age. Most of the time, the other children are going to think of the child as a baby and the children are not going to be afraid to express this to the child that still sucks their thumb. This is going to make the child very self-conscious and they are probably going to become more of a loner instead of playing with the other children.