Check out these incredible structural changes of the jaws 7 months after eliminating dummy use at age 3 years!
This really emphasises that form follows function, and how the muscles work in the earliest years of life when the jaws are growing most rapidly influences the way the face develops. The earlier a dummy can be eliminated, the more on track jaw development will become.
Did you know that overuse of dummies alter tongue posture, swallowing and create a persistent deficit in jaw development even after the dummy habit is ceased?
The next steps for this child will be to offer palate expansion to help address his narrow v-shaped palate and constricted tongue space, and correct the skeletal crossbite.
This will facilitate therapy to retrain the tongue, and restore proper tongue to palate contact for optimal closed mouth nasal breathing, improved sleep and long-term orthodontic stability. It will also improve functional patterns of the mouth muscles during chewing, swallowing and speech.
