Parafunctional Habits

Oral parafunctional habits are categorized as the habitual exercise of the mouth and jaws, which are different from the everyday functional movements. Some of them are bruxism, tongue thrusting, finger nail-biting, and mouth breathing.

Thumb sucking is an activity that provides comfort and calmness to the baby. When the baby feels tired, scared, sick or bored, thumb sucking helps them to fall asleep in the night.

Nail biting doesn't cause any permanent damage. But it still has some adverse effects which can make you consider stopping this habit altogether.

Tongue thrust exercises train the child to position the tongue correctly while at rest & swallowing. All these exercises can be performed under the guidance of a dentist or an orthodontist.

A tongue thrust appliance resembles a mouth guard. This orthodontic appliance is made from stainless steel which is placed inside the mouth to control the movements of the tongue in the mouth.

Baby tongue thrust is an involuntary phenomenon in which a baby takes out tongue to exert force while sucking milk. This habit is also called as an infantile swallow.

Thumb sucking is the normal instinct and mostly children stop this habit when their age is between 2 to 4 years. It can lead to oral issues.

In the case of tongue thrust, the normal position of the tongue is altered. Patient suffering from tongue thrusting has the tongue positioned in between the upper and lower front teeth. Most of us ignore such little abnormalities which later may fall into major difficulties.