It’s pretty common for kids to suck their thumbs or use a pacifier. And for the most part it is completely harmless. But there comes a point when doing so can affect the child’s bite or tooth growth. What’s the solution? Find a way to entice the child to make the move on his own. One way is to buy the pacifier. The Times Daily reports on a dentist who pays his young patients to let him hang their pacifier on the wall. Fifty cents or a dollar is usually enough.

Or, as Glinka added, “when the child is old enough to like money more than they like their pacifier.”

That measure of readiness is based on some 600 pacifiers that hang on the walls of their treatment room. All have come from patients who have agreed to sell them to the dentists for 50 cents apiece. Some kids bring in more than one.

Pero and Glinka also reward thumb- and finger-suckers for breaking the habit. The kids get $1 when they bring a calendar showing they’ve been clean for 30 days.

They recommend that parents step in to break the pacifier or thumb habit if it’s still going on when the child is 3 1/2 to 4. By then, it’s not serving any useful purpose and may be causing dental problems.