A 6 year old female child reported with a chief complaint of proclined upper anteriors. Parents give a history of prolonged bottle-feeding and a persistent thumb sucking habit. Clinical examination reveals anterior open bite with proclined upper anterior and retroclined lower anterior teeth and associated tongue thrusting. Usually digit sucking habits are outgrown by:

Thumb-sucking in children  No active intervention regardless of type and severity of malocclusion because of general emotional immaturity. Most children out grow the habit by approximately 5 years of age. Malocclusion is self-correcting, if ceased by the time of eruption of permanent teeth. Parents are advised to ignore habit. Give more attention to the child when not sucking. If occlusion Class II, advise need for future orthodontic treatment. Ref: Textbook of Orthodontics Gurkeerat Singh Second edition