Pai Deepika, Kumar Saurabh, Kamath Abhay T, Bhaskar Vipin
Department of Pedodontics & Preventive Dentistry, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, Manipal University, Manipal, India.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal, Manipal University, Manipal, India.
Case Rep Dent. 2016;2016:2475784. doi: 10.1155/2016/2475784. Epub 2016 Nov 29.
Digit sucking is common nonnutritive sucking habit in childhood. However it is unusual to find toe sucking habit in children. We report a case of a seven-year-old child sucking great toe of the left foot. The child was referred by her paediatrician for dental evaluation due to her complaint of recurrent episodes of pyrexia. A dental evaluation was warranted as no particular system contributed to such recurrent episodes of fever in this child. Although dental examination did not reveal any cause for recurrent episodes of pyrexia, as a part of routine history taking we discovered that this child indulges frequently in sucking the great toe of her left foot since infancy. Any nonnutritive sucking habit is considered deleterious; this habit also caused significant effect on the child's dentofacial structures, sucked toe, and her general health. Hence the treatment plan was formulated for immediate cessation of habit. Appropriate interception of habit and timely orthodontic intervention led to not only early interception of cross-bite but also decrease in pyrexial episodes. This case report describes the pernicious effects of toe sucking habit and its relevance to recurrent pyrexia in children.
吮指是儿童常见的非营养性吸吮习惯。然而，在儿童中发现吮趾习惯并不常见。我们报告一例七岁儿童吸吮左脚大脚趾的病例。该儿童因反复发热被儿科医生转诊进行牙科评估。鉴于该儿童反复发热没有特定系统原因，因此有必要进行牙科评估。尽管牙科检查未发现反复发热的任何原因，但作为常规病史采集的一部分，我们发现该儿童自婴儿期起就经常吸吮左脚大脚趾。任何非营养性吸吮习惯都被认为是有害的；这种习惯也对儿童的牙颌面结构、被吸吮的脚趾以及她的整体健康产生了重大影响。因此制定了立即戒除该习惯的治疗计划。对习惯的适当阻断和及时的正畸干预不仅导致了早期对反咬合的阻断，还减少了发热发作次数。本病例报告描述了吮趾习惯的有害影响及其与儿童反复发热的相关性。
