Adults are swapping stress balls for baby pacifiers, and dentists say the bizarre fad could wreck your smile.A self-soothing trend that took off in China is now gaining traction in the US, with grown-ups sucking on oversized pacifiers marketed as sleep aids and anxiety relievers.\u201cThere\u2019s a reason we don\u2019t drink from bottles or suck on pacifiers as adults,\u201d orthodontist Dr. Ben Winters, creator of the oral care brand Something Nice, told The New York Post. \u201cIt wreaks havoc on swallow and bite patterns.\u201dDespite the warnings, demand is booming. Sellers report moving thousands of adult pacifiers each month, with prices ranging anywhere from $1.40 to $70, according to the South China Morning Post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For some buyers, the appeal is psychological. \u201cWhen I\u2019m under pressure at work, I suck on the dummy,\u201d one user said. \u201cI feel indulged in a sense of safety from childhood.\u201dOthers claim the habit helps ease ADHD symptoms, supports weight loss, or even curbs smoking cravings. \u201cIt gives me comfort and makes me less fidgety during my smoke cessation periods,\u201d another buyer explained.Constant pacifier use in adulthood can lead to an open bite; a misalignment where the upper and lower front teeth no longer touch when the jaw closes.\u201cThe pressure from sucking pushes the upper teeth forward or the lowers inward,\u201d Winters explained. \u201cFor kids, the bite can often correct itself as they grow. Adults don\u2019t have that luxury.\u201dFixing the problem often requires braces, and prolonged use can also trigger a tongue thrust pattern; a baby reflex where the tongue presses against or between the teeth while swallowing. In adults, that can cause long-term dental and speech problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Adults are swapping stress balls for baby pacifiers, and dentists say the bizarre fad could wreck your smile.A self-soothing trend that took off in China is now… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":130,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35631,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35629\/revisions\/35631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/35630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}