Pacifier use is okay for babies a year and under but when the baby begins growing teeth then the pacifier should be taken away to prevent dental problems such as the crooked teeth.
The pacifier use when they are used long term can lead to the teeth not growing in the mouth properly and can cause the teeth to grow in crooked.
Prolonged pacifier use in babies past 1 year old can also cause ear infections as well.
However not all children will get crooked teeth or ear infections from prolonged pacifier use but it is possible.
My children used pacifiers until age 4 years old during the day and one of boys used a pacifier at night until age 8 years old.
Yes you read that correct he used the pacifier at night until 8 years old because he was putting up a fight about it and I just let him use the pacifier at night until he gave it up on his own.
It helped him sleep and when I tried to take it away he would not sleep and sleep is very important and nobody else would know about it and he only used it at night.
Do I recommend an 8 year old child use a pacifier either in the day or night? No I would not but if your child is comforted by the pacifier even at 8 years old then there's no point in fighting it.
My children's teeth all came in correctly and were not crooked and they did get ear infections but it's not known if the pacifier use caused the ear infections because children can get ear infections even when they do not use a pacifier.