pacifier vs thumb sucker

Before Truett was born Vince and I had a lengthy discussion about pacifiers vs thumb suckers and which we wanted our son to be.

Honestly, I was never a huge fan of pacifiers simply out of vanity. I thought they looked pretty silly and I was really concerned about the affects it would have on his developing teeth. I was a binky user as a baby and suffered from an overbite that had to be fixed with a retainer at a young age. I didn't use the binky too far into toddlerhood - I think I gave it up when my little brother came along before I turned two. But it had enough of an effect on my baby teeth. 

I think the thing that sticks with me about pacifiers is when I see little kids trying to talk with them in their mouths. Obviously at a certain age it becomes harder to take them away because it becomes a security blanket for the child. But this was something that I wanted to avoid.

(Here he is at 3 days old sucking his thumb for the first and only time so far)

So I brought up the idea of allowing him to suck his thumb. This brought up a whole new series of concerns. You can't take away a thumb! And the teeth issue is still prevelent. You also don't see any 10 year olds still using a pacifier but you might see one sucking his or her thumb still.

I know it's important for little ones to learn how to self soothe and therefore a binky or thumb sucking is beneficial. I want my little guy to learn this but I also worry about his other developments and how a binky/thumb sucking might affect him later down the road. So basically we didn't get far with our discussion. We decided to just leave it up to him. And as it turns out, Truett is not a fan of the pacifier at all! He hasn't quite found his thumb yet but does suck on his hand. 

So I'm wondering, what is best? Pacifier or thumb? Should I keep trying to give him a binky or give in to the thumb? 

Help a newbie out, fellow mommies!