Sucking on fingers or thumbs is healthy and normal in infants. Babies and toddlers stop sucking their thumb by themselves and most children stop somewhere between two and four years of age. However, if thumb or finger sucking continues past this age it can alter the normal growth of the jaws and cause significant misalignment of the front adult teeth as they erupt into the mouth, which will require orthodontic treatment.
This teenage boy had a long history of thumb sucking and one of his top front teeth had been pushed upwards and out, causing an overbite (buck teeth). The patient had tried several ways to stop the habit, such as support, encouragement and reminders. He also tried some devices such as thumb sucking gloves, functional appliance like Myobrace and removable palatal appliance. But they all failed.
Finally the fixed palatal appliance was utilised to stop this stubborn thumb sucking habit. It worked very quickly and very well.