Introduction: Finger sucking is a habitual non-nutritive behaviour. Sucking habits include dummy sucking, sucking on different objects or other fingers. The habit of finger sucking is viewed as an activity with which a child soothes himself, when he feels frustration, dissatisfaction, or boredom. The habit of finger sucking does not provide any nutritional value to the child. The habit of thumb sucking is a common one and is usually abandoned between the ages of two and four. If sucking continues beyond this age, it manifests itself in the long term as malocclusion in the permanent dentition. Purpose: The aim of this thesis is creating a systematic review of morphological and dento-alveolar abnormalities that occur because of a non-nutritive sucking habit and a review of orthodontic appliances used to treat acquired conditions. Methods: Methods of work base on the overview and research of Slovenian and foreign literature in the field of maxillofacial and dental orthopaedics as well as a laboratory implementation of a maxillofacial orthopedic appliance. Results: The making of a removable aacrilate plate with an integrated tongue thrusting barrier and a central screw. Wire elements of the appliance are regular labial bow, two double Adams clasps on teeth 15/16 and 25/26 and the tongue thrusting barrier. All wire elements are made out of 0,7 thick steel wire. Due to the narrow upper jaw a central screw is placed in the area of teeth 14/24. Discussion and conclusion: After reviewing Slovenian and international literature I came to the conclussion that the habit of digit sucking is an extremly tenacious behaviour, which is sucesufully treated in most cases, even the cases where treatment is started in adulthood. Authors of the reviewed literature report, that is is normal for a child to keep the digit sucking behavoiour up to about the age of four. The habit usually ceases between the ages of two and four. After the childs sixth year, self regulation ceases and the manifestation of irregularities in the permanent dentition are higher, depenting of the contraction forces. It is essential that the child tries to stop with the habit before the growth of permanent dentition. Digit sucking is a major challenge in orthodontics treatment. The habit, due to the constant avaliability is always there and therefore cannot be taken away. Ceasing the habit doesn´t present just as a physical change, but also envokes a feeling of loss of something what could instantly comfort a child. The severitz of the manifested state is primarly depentant of the duration of sucking, which is immediately followed by the force of contraction. Negative consequences obtained with suction habit of the finger appear in transversal and vertical irregularities and are solved with fixed and removable appliances. In addition to these, barriers are used to dissuade the child from sucking the finger, which inhibits the child’s desire to suck. If the problem is not resolved in childhood, it can be resolved to some extent in adulthood. In such cases, in addition to the use of orthopedic devices, interdisciplinary orthodontic-surgical treatment is required.
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