My son had a little gap too, right between his front teeth. I remember panicking about it and asking the dentist at every checkup. She said it was super common with pacifier use and not to worry unless it stuck around after he stopped. Sure enough, once he finally gave up the binky (took forever), the gap closed on its own over a few months. Kids’ mouths are wild—sometimes I think they bounce back from just about anything.
That sounds so familiar. My daughter had the same little gap and I remember stressing about it, too. Our dentist basically gave me the same advice—don’t panic unless it’s still there after the pacifier is gone. It’s wild how quickly those gaps can close up once the binky’s out of the picture. Kids’ mouths really do seem to fix themselves a lot of the time. I wish I’d worried less, honestly.
Kids’ mouths really do seem to fix themselves a lot of the time. I wish I’d worried less, honestly.
I relate to that—our pediatrician was pretty adamant that unless the habit goes on for years, most of these dental gaps are transient. Still, I couldn’t help but monitor every little change. Out of curiosity, did your dentist mention whether thumb-sucking has a similar impact compared to pacifiers? I’ve read some studies suggesting the pressure dynamics are slightly different, but I’m not sure how much it matters in practice.
I’ve obsessed over this too—my son switched from pacifier to thumb around 18 months, and I swear I panicked more about the thumb. Our dentist made it sound like thumb-sucking could be trickier, since kids can keep doing it way longer and you can’t take a thumb away. But then she also said most mild changes reverse if the habit stops early enough. Still, I catch myself googling “permanent overbite from thumb-sucking” at 2am... It’s so hard not to worry, even if the pros say it’ll probably work out.
I get it—my daughter was a hardcore thumb-sucker, and honestly, I worried way more than when she had the pacifier. Our dentist said the same thing: thumbs are trickier because you can’t just “lose” them. Did you ever try those bitter nail polishes? We did, but she still managed to suck her thumb through it half the time... In our case, she finally stopped around age four and her teeth shifted back on their own. I still stress about it sometimes, but I think most kids outgrow it before it really messes with their bite.
