Habits, thumb sucking finger, tongue thrust, nail biting lip, chewing cheek

Pictures of Dentistry
and Dental Procedures

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Habits, thumb sucking finger, tongue thrust, nail biting lip, chewing cheek
Image	Photo Description
	Oral surgery excision and biopsy of a soft tissue lesion that developed after cheek biting. How to pictures. The oral pathology diagnosis was minor salivary gland lobules exhibiting focal, chronic sialadenitis. 1) Extra oral photo. 2) & 3) Enucleating the lesion. 4) The excised soft tissue lesion. 5) Sutures placed. 6) One week later.
	An eyeglass biting habit caused dramatic tooth movement. The patient was not aware of it. The diagnosis was made while listening to the patient and noticing that she held her eyeglasses while speaking and seemed to want to put them between her teeth. When she was encouraged to follow through with her arm motion the biting location exactly matched where her teeth moved. The lower left photo shows her temporary crowns and the lower right photo shows her final crowns. Much more dentistry is still needed. The patient was taught how to stop biting her eyeglasses.
	Parafunctional oral habits like bruxism teeth grinding clenching can cause serious damage to the teeth. Dental Reconstruction of a phobic Wall Street executive. Total treatment time was about nine hours in two visits during one business week: Monday (four hours) and Friday (five hours). This patient hid his dental condition for over a decade by never smiling. In the first row of photos, note that the bite was over-closed due to a prior history of an eating disorder, now controlled, and a current tooth grinding habit. An Oral Surgery consultation with panoramic x-ray (second row) was performed prior to treatment to evaluate opening the bite. The third row shows x-rays taken after the Endodontist completed eight root canals on the first day on tooth #'s: 6 - 11 and 14, 15. The fourth row shows the lab-processed 11 unit (11 tooth) temporary bridge and the cast gold post/cores (with Kaitlyn loops) for the root canal treated teeth. The fifth row shows the cast gold post/cores cemented. The sixth row shows the lab-processed temporary bridge in place after the surgeon extracted tooth #'s: 3 - 5 and 12, crown lengthening gum surgery was performed on tooth #'s: 6 - 11, and a distal wedge was performed on #15. The patient will have a final porcelain-metal bridge made after the gums heal. Implants may also be placed in the upper right posterior. A bite plate is also necessary to try to mitigate the force of tooth grinding. Referral for pharmacological management of anxiety is also worthwhile.
	Fixed orthodontics teeth braces used to retract severe labial inclination - teeth pushed outward towards the lips - in a patient who had a significant tongue thrust and thumb sucking habit. 1) & 2) Pre-operative pictures. Note the upper and lower central incisor teeth. 3) & 4) Following six months of braces treatment. Again, note the upper and lower central incisors.
	Fixed orthodontics teeth braces used to retract severe labial inclination - teeth pushed outward towards the lips - in a patient who had a significant tongue thrust and thumb sucking habit. Braces move teeth through bone like moving a basketball pole through wet cement using anchorage and elastics. Note the three teeth connected with wire are being used as an anchorage unit while one tooth is being pulled by the elastic band.
	Oral habits, like lip biting, should be diagnosed and eliminated before initiating orthodontics or cosmetic dentistry. Lip biting is one of many oral habits that are seen in dentistry. Other habits include: teeth grinding clenching or bruxism, tongue finger or thumb sucking, a tongue thrust and cheek or nail biting.
	A nail biting habit associated with the creation of a tooth gap space between the upper front teeth. Placing a tiny amount of clear tape on fingernails can help break this subconscious habit.
	Oral mouth habits can cause tooth movement. A nail biting habit causing dental protrusion - pushing out - of the upper front teeth.
	A nail biting or thumb sucking - or finger sucking - habit can cause dental protrusion - pushing out - of the upper front teeth. This patient came to our office seeking help with a tooth that was moving outward but she did not understand why. Her thumb kept going to the same exact spot on the tooth in question whenever she began thinking.
	A tongue crib in place to stop a tongue thrust habit in an adolescent male. Note the anterior open bite and the labial displacement of the upper central incisor #8. The tongue crib is custom made and cemented onto the upper first molars.
	A cheek biting habit associated with orthodontic brackets used in teeth braces. Cheek biting is one of many oral habits that are seen in dentistry. Other habits include: teeth grinding clenching or bruxism, tongue finger or thumb sucking, a tongue thrust and lip or nail biting.
Information about these dental photos In medicine and dentistry "left" and "right" are based upon the orientation of the patient's body and not how they appear in a photograph of a smile. For example, a reference to the upper left teeth will actually appear to be on the right side when viewing a picture of the face and similarly an upper right tooth will appear to be on the left side. Many words in dentistry like oral and mouth have a similar meaning and are frequently used together to help our readers find specific words they best understand. This is particularly important because a majority of our visitors are from countries where English is not their primary language. Maxilla or maxillary refer to the upper jaw. Mandible or mandibular refer to the lower jaw. There are many other similar word combinations used throughout this website because our pages are read by patients and dentists. A few of the most common are discussed here. Tooth decay, tooth cavity and dental caries all mean the same thing. Tooth, teeth and dental are also frequently interchanged as in teeth veneers or dental veneer laminate. Oral rehabilitation and dental reconstruction mean smile makeover. The word for x-ray may be used with or without a hyphen (this is true for other words too) and can also be called a radiograph.