The Cutie PAT Smile is an Orthodontic Pro pacifier that was patented and designed to prevent orthodontic issues such as anterior open bite, posterior crossbite, and increased overjet.

Ergonomics is key. My design, realized now as the Cutie PAT Smile, is preformed to the shape that other pacifiers must conform to in the child’s mouth. The preformed shape allows a more passive shape and not one that wants to rebound back to its original form. This promotes the most natural shape of a child’s developing palate and bite helping to reduce the three most common orthodontic malocclusions: anterior open bite, posterior crossbite, and increased overjet.

Yes! The Cutie PAT Smile is an Orthodontic Pro pacifier. This signifies that the pacifier was designed by a professional in the care of pediatric patients with the sole intent attempting to reduce negative orthodontic effects in your child’s mouth.

Anyone can label a pacifier as an “orthodontic pacifier” and it means nothing. The question is, does the pacifier that is labeled “orthodontic pacifier” thoughtfully attempt to reduce negative orthodontic effects in your child’s mouth? The Cutie PAT Smile does—so this would be what I would consider THE orthodontic pacifier.

Orthodontic Pro signifies that this pacifier was designed by a professional in the care of pediatric patients with the sole intent of helping children in their development.

The three most common orthodontic issues related to pacifier use are: anterior open bite, posterior lateral restriction (ultimately producing posterior crossbite), and increased overjet. I began to consider what a pacifier would look like if those three issues were the primary design motivators.

I began with an anterior open bite, which in my opinion, is the most harmful as it can lead to a tongue thrust habit and can get big quickly. The wider the mouth is opened during prolonged pacifier use, the more the posterior teeth will super erupt and the more potential for anterior open bite.

The patented shape that I created is designed to allow the most “closed” position that a child can have with a pacifier. This alone will help to significantly reduce the potential of anterior open bite and subsequent tongue thrust.

Anterior open bite is when a bite where the posterior teeth are touching, and the anterior upper and lower teeth are not overlapping or have space between them.

The Cutie PAT Smile’s wide nipple was designed to help prevent posterior restriction leading ultimately to posterior crossbite.

When a child is actively sucking on the pacifier, the Masseter Muscles are constricting. The constricting Masseter Muscles are overlying the upper arch but not the lower. In turn, the upper arch is often inhibited from growing laterally as quickly as the lower arch thus making the circumference of the upper arch smaller and most often a narrower v-shaped arch than the lower.

The frequency and the force of the pacifier sucking plays the largest role in this malocclusion however by offering a wide nipple that presses outwardly on the upper arch, the Cutie PAT Smile is thoughtfully reducing the potential for this issue.

Posterior crossbite is a malalignment of the teeth and occlusion in such a way the upper posterior teeth are not hitting the lower posterior teeth in their natural occlusion. The upper arch is smaller in circumference than the lower arch—naturally it should be the opposite.

I was convicted to try and help a common problem that I saw every day in my office with children affected negatively by the pacifier. I started working on the Smile nipple in 2015, patented in 2020 and reached out to Ryan & Rose soon after!

US Patent No. D887,566

The Cutie PAT Smile was designed to be the only pacifier that your baby should need; it was designed for babies with and without teeth. Babies can start and end with a Cutie PAT Smile during their use of a pacifier. As the intent of the Cutie PAT Smile is to promote natural retention of the baby’s oral anatomy, I would certainly recommend this pacifier to be the starting point. If the baby enjoys it, stay with it. If your child prefers another style of pacifier, I would recommend having a Cutie PAT Smile that you could continue to introduce in hopes that they will accept and switch to it as early as possible.

I do understand that babies can be very picky and that all babies are different. Often, babies will stay with the first pacifier that they are given but, certainly not always. In my opinion, it’s worth a periodic introduction of the Cutie PAT Smile to see if your child accepts a change.

The Cutie PAT Smile aims to help retain the child’s natural oral hard tissue shape, which is ideal for both breastfed and non-breastfed babies.

After I was awarded the patent for my design, I was counseling a mother on appropriate pacifier use and told her that I had a pacifier that I believed would be beneficial to all children, but I did not have a clue how to get it out there. She raved about the company Ryan & Rose, their products, and their company philosophy. At the end of the day, I looked them up and knew that that was who I should contact. Their values, focus on innovation, care for children and families and love of the Lord is what set them apart.

I recommend getting your child off the pacifier at 2 years old or when negative orthodontic changes are noted. The ADA and the AADP do not recommend pacifiers past the age of three. In my experience over the years, the “cold turkey” method is the best. (Don’t keep one in the drawer or they will smell it out!) With the patented design, my hope is that the Cutie PAT Smile may offer a “buffer” to those parents that can’t seem to go cold turkey at 2 years of age.

Babies often have the drive to suck even after a full feeding. This is called “non-nutritive sucking.” In other words, babies want to suck even without gaining nutrition and calories from food. You may be wondering, “Does this benefit my baby in any way?”

Non-nutritive sucking does benefit your little one in several ways, such as promoting relaxation, providing comfort, releasing endorphins in the brain, and for many parents, it can be a helpful tool to encourage your little one to sleep.

Many new parents are concerned about breastfeeding success and nipple confusion; however, I do have good news for you! Research shows that nursing mothers who offer a pacifier to their baby are just as successful with breastfeeding as those who don’t.

If you are concerned about nipple confusion and the myths surrounding it, there is research that addresses this myth directly. The research actually shows that there is no evidence for pacifier use causing a decrease in breastfeeding success. Studies show that limiting pacifier use actually resulted in decreased rates of exclusive breastfeeding.

Bottom line: Whether you are breast or bottle feeding, it’s okay to offer your baby a pacifier in the first few weeks of life. You don’t have to fear nipple confusion.

Yes! The American Academy of Pediatrics reports a significant reduction of SIDS with pacifier use.

Yes, pacifiers are safe during sleep and are even recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for daytime naps and nighttime sleep.

First, know that some babies love a pacifier and will take to it immediately. Others will not take a pacifier ever, and that’s okay too. My experience indicates that if a baby won’t accept a pacifier by 10 weeks of age then they may not ever accept one, but you can certainly keep trying.

To offer a pacifier, apply firm pressure on the top middle section of your baby’s tongue. Move the pacifier in firm circles around your baby’s mouth. (Avoid the tip of the tongue as this will elicit the tongue-thrust reflex.) If you’re not having success, try applying a bit of breast milk or formula to the pacifier nipple. Don’t let a gag scare you or convince you that your baby hates the pacifier. Remove the pacifier briefly and try again in the middle of the tongue with a firm, but gentle downward pressure.

Expert Tip: If your little one is refusing a pacifier, offer it when your baby is calm rather than upset. Consider swaddling his/her arms so your baby feels secure. Try different nipple shapes and sizes before deciding that your baby isn’t interested. Babies may refuse one type, but have a strong preference for another size or shape.

Once your little one is about 5-6 months of age, I have a fun game to play with your baby to help teach and reinforce the skill of independently replacing the pacifier. It’s called The Binky Game:

1. Place 4-5 pacifiers around your baby.
2. Help her get a pacifier to her mouth.
3. Clap and praise her once she places it in her mouth.
4. Repeat these steps multiple times a day to teach her to replace the pacifier on her own.

With practice and repetition, your baby will soon be able to use this skill during the night and at naps to replace the pacifier all by herself.

Expert Tip: Place several pacifiers in the crib to make it easier for your baby to find them in the dark.

When it comes to using (or not using) a pacifier, there truly isn’t a right or wrong way to approach it. I believe it can be an incredibly helpful tool for many babies in the first months (or years) of life, with benefits that far outweigh the drawbacks. For other babies, a pacifier might not ever be appealing and that’s okay too!

It ultimately comes down to the personal preferences of both parents and babies. Whether your little one loves the pacifier or you choose to do without it, it’s possible to have a happy, healthy, and well-rested baby.

Pacifiers can affect speech development for babies and toddlers if a pacifier is used too frequently. When toddlers have the pacifier in their mouths during “talk time” it can negatively impact the way they produce sounds which may lead to articulation problems down the road.

See specific recommendations in our blog post here.

The most effective thing you can do for speech development is make sure the pacifier is taken out of their mouth when they are talking. A pacifier can limit opportunities to talk and can also cause unnatural position of the tongue, lips and jaw, which can distort a child’s speech.

If thumb sucking does occur, both pacifier use and thumb sucking are essentially the same in the way they affect speech development. Therefore, the same elimination plan applies.

Read more about pacifier elimination in our blog post here.

If your baby has an oral motor weakness, there would be other signs as well. He or she would likely have motor weakness or be considered low-tone throughout their body, also causing feeding problems.

As Lindsey often says, "all babies are different." I work with a lot of babies that have difficulty with bottle feeding and breast feeding. One thing I've learned through my work is that some babies will go through 5 different bottles before we find the right one that offers the right latch and works with their lips/tongue/jaw structure. I love that Ryan & Rose offers a variety of Cutie PAT options for all babies.

The Cutie Tensil is one of my favorite products on the market. I tend to start spoon feeding with my babies around 6-8 months of age. At this age, my goal is not volume or perfection on getting the food in the mouth. My goal is “exploration.” The Cutie Tensil is the perfect size for our little ones to hold and explore. As they become more curious, the design of the Cutie Tensil that allows them to “scoop, shovel, stab” is brilliant. So many skills to work on with one little tool improving oral motor skills and fine motor skills.

I love the size and feeling of the Cutie Spoovel for kids with sensory needs. This is often a more preferred material than a hard plastic spoon. I also love that it is flat, so it gives our kids with reduced oral motor skills the ability to remove the food from the Spoovel more easily than a child's traditional spoon that has a large "lip" on it.

Yes! There are many other people that can benefit from using the Cutie Spoovel:

- Those with diseases like Alzheimer’s that are unfortunately losing/or have lost some of their range of motion with their mouth/tongue muscles.
- People that have been in accidents where their mouth, lips, tongue, neck have been affected and may need assistance.
- Kids with genetic disorders: Down syndrome, Noonan syndrome, and other chromosomal abnormalities.
- Preemies with continued delays.
- Kids with autism that have oral motor and/or sensory deficits.

Yes! Transitional spoons scoop upward making it difficult for people to take the food off the spoon. The open front design of the Cutie Spoovel helps aid in bolus extraction!