Academic literature on the topic 'Psychological aspects of Thumb sucking'

Introduction. Open bite is a multifactorial phenomenon and no single factor can account for open-bite. Etiology plays an important role in diagnosis. Heredity, unfavorable growth patterns, incorrect jaw postoure, are the characteristics of skeletal open bite. Digit sucking. Depending on where the thumb is placed, a number of different types of dental problems can develop. Malocclusions of the late mixed or permanent dentitions, caused by thumb sucking are not self corrected and orthodontic treatment is necessary for their correction. Lymphatic tissue. In order to produce oral respiration, the mandible is postured inferiorly with the tongue protruded and resting against the oral floor. This postural alteration induces dental and skeletal modifications similar to those caused by thumb sucking. This may cause excessive eruption of the posterior teeth, leading to an increase in the vertical dimension of the face and result in development of anterior open bite. Tongue thrust. Tongue habits cause an anterior open bite or they develop secondarily to thumb sucking. In skeletal open bite the tongue habit acts as a secondary factor which helps to maintain or exacerbate the condition. Many orthodontists have had a discouraging experience of completing dental treatment, with what appeared to be good results, only to discover that the case had relapsed because the patient had a tongue thrust swallowing pattern. Conclusion. Dentoalveolar or habitual open bite is caused by habits, which influence the growth and development of dentoalveolar processes and contribute to occlusal disharmonies. Prior to eruption of adult dentition, open bite related to oral habits is usually not a concern as when the habits stop, because the erupting dentition tends to improve spontaneously. Treatment is usually not necessary until permanent teeth erupt (~6 years old). .

The purpose of this paper is to share information about the digit-(thumb/finger) sucking behavior including how it begins; the biological, psychological and physiological connections; how it becomes perpetuated; problems related to prolonged sucking activity; guidelines for referral; and considerations for appropriate patient selection to enhance successful therapy. The basis for this information is a combination of published research and 24 years of clinical experience working with approximately 1500 individuals with sucking habits. Data compiled on 723 individuals will be presented.

Oral habits in form of digit/thumb sucking are common phenomenon and part of childhood behavior. They are normally associated with oral pleasure, hunger, anxiety, and sometimes psychological disturbances. Chronic practice can cause major orthopedic alterations to the skeletal structures of the oral cavity and lower face. Aversive approaches in form of punitive therapy have been moderately effective. Modified bluegrass appliance is nonpunitive therapy to treat sucking habits. It acts as a habit reversal technique and installs positive reinforcement in children. Modified blue grass appliance proved to be very comfortable to patients and encourages neuromuscular stimulations.

Sucking the thumb is considered an inborn reflex. However, after the age of four (in case of emotional instability and anxiety) this reflex becomes a bad habit. This vicious habit is one of the most important etiological factors which determine the Angle Class II/1 malocclusion. The research relied on the analysis of the photos of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14 who admitted the persistence of this bad habit and also had Angle Class II/1 malocclusions. We analysed the photos of the face and of the exobuccal and endobuccal profiles. We have chosen two cases from the researched group to highlight the clinical aspects of Angle Class II/1 malocclusions. The patients maintained the bad habit of sucking the thumb which, accompanied by other etiological factors, led to a skeletal disequilibrium. Thus, many modifications may appear such as: upper jaw prognathism and lower jaw retrognathism with a sagittal inocclusion as well as changes of the physiognomy specific to Angle Class II/1 malocclusions. In the case of Angle Class II/1 malocclusions, the coexistence of hereditary and functional pathologic factors generally leads to skeletal and neuro-muscular modifications with aesthetic repercussions.

Introductions. The vicious habit of sucking the thumb is an etiological factor of Angle Class II/1 malocclusion. Case presentation. In the clinical case that we intend to present, the main goal of the treatment was to recover the occlusion and the functions of the dento-maxillary complex. The treatment relied on the use of a fixed appliance. The sagittal inocclusion was thus reduced and the parameters of occlusion were brought to normality. Conclusions. We consider that the period of orthodontic treatment was reduced because the climax of the bones growth took place at the same time with the eruption of the 12-year-old molars.

SummaryThe hypothesis that psychological stress during early childhood leads to advanced reproductive maturation was assessed using data from the California Childhood Health and Development Study. Regression analyses failed to indicate that bed wetting, nightmares or thumb-sucking at age 5 predict age at menarche, regardless of controls for mother's age at menarche. Among socioeconomic variables suggested as contextual stressors measured at age 9–11 only mother's education was a significant predictor of daughter's age at menarche, though its effect is trivial compared to mother's age at menarche. Path analysis on a subsample of the subjects failed to demonstrate the hypothesised indirect effect of mother's age at menarche on daughter's age at menarche acting through early marriage and marital dissolution. These results cast doubt on the theory that early childhood stress is the key to divergent reproductive strategies among females based on the timing of reproductive maturation.

Rett Syndrome is an x linked developmental disorder which becomes apparent in females after 6 to 18 months of age. It leads to severe impairments including loss of speech, loss of hand movements/manual dexterity, characteristic hand movements such as hang wringing and intellectual disability/learning problems. This systematic review was carried out to identify the dental manifestation of Rett syndrome and to shed light on treatment options available for oral health problems associated with Rett syndrome. A systematic literature search was conducted on the PubMed, Scopus, Biomed, Web of Science, Embase, Google Scholars, Cochrane and CINAHL using the following entries: Rett syndrome (n = 3790), Oral health and Rett syndrome (n = 17), dental health of Rett syndrome patients (n = 13), and the MeSH terms listed below: Rett syndrome and Oral Health (n = 17), Rett syndrome and dentistry (n = 29). The final review included 22 search articles. The most common oral findings was bruxism. Masseteric hypertrophy was also reported. Anterior open bite and non-physiological tooth wear was observed. Other oral manifestations of Rett syndrome included mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, digit/thumb sucking, high arch palate. Increased awareness and dental education amongst dentists and assistants regarding the dental manifestations of Rett syndrome and similar neurodevelopmental disorders is required to improve the level of care and empathy they can provide to these differently able patients. Research on dental aspects of Rett is scarce and this remains a neglected topic.

Background:Trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis (TMO) is one of the most prevalent and painful forms of hand osteoarthritis.1It limits thumb mobility,2reduces hand functions, and manual activities.1Yet, no study has exhaustively documented the characteristics of this pathology using a biopsychosocial approach (e.g., pain, disability, psychological well-being, pain-related catastrophic thinking, quality of life). Furthermore, radiographic TMO severity and symptomatology are only weakly to moderately correlated.3, 4The extent to which biopsychosocial factors (e.g., pain duration, depression, education) contribute to interindividual variability in TMO pain and hand disability merits further investigation.Objectives:This study aimed at 1) describing the pain experience of patients with trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis (TMO) from a biopsychosocial perspective, and 2) identifying predictors of their pain intensity and hand disability.Methods:A total of 227 TMO patients recruited from 16 healthcare institutions completed validated questionnaires assessing their biopsychosocial characteristics. The associations of pain severity and hand disability with various biopsychosocial characteristics were analyzed by linear regression.Results:The participants’ mean age was 62.6 ± 8.5 years and 78% were women. Their mean pain intensity on the average in the last seven days was 5.8 ± 2.1 while their hand disability scores averaged 45.4 ± 18.8 on the QuickDASH. In terms of health-related quality of life, the participants’ scores on the physical and mental summary scales of the SF-12v2 were 41.0 ± 9.4 and 48.7 ± 9.7 respectively. Results of the multivariable linear regression analyses revealed that age, living condition, pain frequency, pain-related catastrophic thinking, and depression levels accounted for 43.3% of the variance in pain intensity while age, sex, pain intensity, pain-related catastrophic thinking, depression, level of education, employment status and living condition accounted for 60.6% of the variance in hand function.Conclusion:This comprehensive study showed that patients with TMO experience pain of moderate to severe intensity which can affect various aspects of their daily living and their physical health-related quality of life. Greater tendency to catastrophize in the face of pain and higher depression levels were associated with more severe pain suggesting that psychological interventions aiming at reducing these factors could be beneficial for some patients with TMO.References:[1] Bijsterbosch J, Visser W, Kroon HM, Stamm T, Meulenbelt I, Huizinga TW, Kloppenburg M. Thumb base involvement in symptomatic hand osteoarthritis is associated with more pain and functional disability.Annals of the rheumatic diseases.2010;69:585-587.[2] Gehrmann SV, Tang J, Li ZM, Goitz RJ, Windolf J, Kaufmann RA. Motion deficit of the thumb in CMC joint arthritis.Journal of hand surgery.2010;35:1449-1453.[3] Botha-Scheepers S, Riyazi N, Watt I, Rosendaal FR, Slagboom E, Bellamy N, Breedveld FC, Kloppenburg M. Progression of hand osteoarthritis over 2 years: a clinical and radiological follow-up study.Annals of the rheumatic diseases.2009;68:1260-1264.[4] Hwang RW, Ring D. Pain and disability related to osteoarthrosis of the trapeziometacarpal joint.J Hand Microsurg.2011;3:63-65.Acknowledgments:This study was supported by a discretionary fund of the Centre de recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM) to Choinière and from the Multidisciplinary Council of the CHUM. Hamasaki was supported by a Doctoral training award of the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Santé, a doctoral scholarship from the CHUM Foundation to Harris (Hand Surgery Branch) and from Choinière’s internal funds of the CRCHUM.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Section 39(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, recognises the existence of rights not protected in the bill of rights. The South African bill of rights protects human conduct and interests extensively. Before the AMCU judgment was delivered, no clear example of a right not protected by the bill of rights had been identified in case law and legal literature. In the AMCU case the constitutional court deviated from previous judgments by holding that the interests of employees not to be dismissed unfairly is not covered by the right to fair labour practices in section 23(1) of the constitution. The court based its finding on textual and contextual interpretive considerations. Its interpretation of section 23(1) was not sound. A narrow, grammatical approach, namely that the text of section 23(1) does not refer expressly to such a right, cannot be followed when the meaning of open-ended constitutional phrases like “fair” labour practices is determined. And an extra-textual reference to the protection of the right in ordinary law is not relevant when the meaning of a constitutional provision is determined. Aspects of human dignity and physical and psychological integrity cannot be removed from the protective ambit of the bill of rights because they are protected by ordinary rules of the law of delict and criminal law. Viewed contextually with the other provisions of the bill of rights, the constitutional right to fair labour practices, like the right to access to housing, food, health and social services, children’s rights and criminal and civil procedural rights, protects other constitutional rights in a particular field, in this case in the field of labour relations. Apart from the fact that it can hardly be contested that every employee has a vital interest not to be dismissed unfairly, many other rights, for example, to human dignity, physical and psychological integrity, economic activity, association and audi alteram partem, may be limited factually by dismissals and dismissal procedures. The scheme and ethos of the South African bill of rights is that these special rights that overlap with the general rights are guaranteed separately. Within this context one of the ironies of the artificial exclusion of a right from the protective ambit of the special right is that its violation may, like in systems without these special rights, be challenged on the basis of the unjustifiable limitation of the general rights. A rule of thumb that the protective ambit of constitutional rights should be interpreted restrictively because the application of the weak rational relationship test as part of the rule of law serves the separation of power principle better than the application of the stricter reasonable test for the limitation of constitutional rights (in the separate concurring judgment of Theron J) is questionable. Whereas legality as part of the rule of law is always complied with when the weak rationality relationship exists, reasonableness in terms of section 36 does not always amount to the application of a stricter test. The existence of a very compelling purpose (to combat a pandemic that threatens life and limb) or a factually slight limitation of a right (to stop at a stop sign) could be the basis of a conclusion that the limitation is justifiable when the weak rational relationship test is complied with. The court’s consideration of proportionality under the umbrella of the application of the weak rational relationship test causes more uncertainty in the present somewhat unruly field of the application of rationality tests.

Oral habits include habit which is continuously done and has the potential to cause defects in teeth and perioral tissues. Some of the oral habits are finger/thumb sucking, lip sucking/biting, nail biting, bruxism, abnormal swallowing and mouth breathing. The etiology of oral habits includes the disharmonious relationship between parents and children, dissatisfaction in oral phase, premature weaning, emotional disturbance, anomaly, and diseases. Oral habits will influence the development of occlusion and perioral structures in children in the growing and development process. The treatment of oral habits can be done with or without appliances. The non-appliance treatment consists of psychological approach, medical approach and myofunctional therapy while the appliance treatment will include the use of orthodontic appliances.