Dr Runa Mowla-Copley, of Metamorphosis Orthodontics in New King's Road in Fulham, London, has just published the illustrated children’s story called Charlie’s Thumb.
It is a tale about a boy who sucks his thumb all day and all night. A visit from the Tooth Fairy leads to rather unusual events which make Charlie think perhaps he should break his bad habit after all.
She said: 'It is aimed at the under sevens – and their despairing parents. The story was inspired by my daughter Yasmine who, as a young child, had been a very determined thumb sucker. In fact, I was a rather avid thumb sucker myself as a child. As a parent, I found very few books available to read to my child to help support breaking her habit. And so I thought why not write one myself!
'I have enjoyed the whole process very much and it’s been an exciting project for me.'
Runa is co-founder of the thumb-sucking clinic at Metamorphosis Orthodontics and has successfully helped many children break their habit.
While most children will stop the habit on their own before the age of six, some will continue past this age and it is when the secondary dentition starts to erupt that the detrimental effects of prolonged thumb sucking become evident.
However, if the habit is interrupted early, spontaneous improvement of the dentition can occur.
Runa explained: 'The book has been a great success with my patients at Metamorphosis. The practice is stocking the book as part of our oral health educational range.'
The book is available to buy for dental professionals to sell in their waiting rooms or as part of their preventative oral healthcare range from Ortho-Care (UK) Ltd (£5.99) – www.orthocare.co.uk.
Metamorphosis is holding a book launch to celebrate Charlie’s Thumb later this month.
