Toxic oral habits are defined as any sucking habit in which no food or fluid is being introduced, or non-nutritive sucking.

Examples are:

• Thumb/finger sucking (should come to an end by 6-12 months)
• Prolonged pacifier use (ideally finished at 3-4 months, but should be gone by 6-12 months)
• Shirt/clothing chewing
• Hair chewing
• Chewing on anything (like pens, etc.)

Toxic oral habits can be detrimental to your child in a few ways. It reshapes the palate and oral structures, resulting in craniofacial underdevelopment. This can lead to a myriad of myofunctional impairments that can follow them throughout their life. Early intervention is key, and myofunctional therapy can help eliminate the habit, and restore proper orofacial myofunctional patterns and functions.