A serial study of the effects of finger-sucking.

RTHODONTISTS have long been interested in the distorting effects of _J finger habits upon the denture. With little detailed study and with little collected evidence, clinicians have developed several, often contradictory, viewpoints about the probable and actual effects of these finger habits. Since finger habits are widely practiced by young children, for short or long periods of time, it is important to ascertain the impact of these habits upon the denture and to establish their contribution to the etiology of malocclusion. The serial orthodontic models in the laboratory of child development at the University of Michigan are sufficiently extensive to begin a systematic attack upon this problem.