Disturbances in the normal growth and development of children can occur in many ways. As pediatric dentists, we are continually evaluating the growth and development of your child well before all the adult teeth have erupted. Some of these problems are hereditary, such as missing or extra teeth from birth, but many are caused by other factors like thumb sucking or early loss of the baby teeth. It is important to detect bite problems and determine their cause as soon as possible. This not only avoids bite problems later, it may improve your child's appearance, speech and ability to eat and digest foods properly.