Developing teeth from the upper and lower jaws grow towards each other when they erupt, until they come into contact with opposing teeth. If the tongue or thumb gets in the way of erupting teeth, the teeth will be preventing from erupting, resulting in an open bite. In an open bite, the opposing teeth do not meet, so they won’t be able to chew properly. In order to avoid an open bite, we have to stop any abnormal tongue habits, or prolonged thumb-sucking. This may involve using a habit appliance to control the thumb-sucking habit.

See also: Common misalignment problems