Re: tongue thrusting- to Yann and Beth

[Guest guest]

Hi guys

When I was around 8 yrs old I saw a therapist for about a year to

help me with my tongue thrust...in the way of little kids though, I

wasn't very religious about doing the exercises I was told to do.

Later, I got the tongue cage Yann mentions to help me break this, I

had that for a couple years, and then I had a removable one that I

wore for several more years...Because of the open bite I had pre-

surgery (i am now 3 months post op from upper, lower, genio and

wisdom teeth), my ortho recommended that I see a orofacial myologist

to do some more tongue thrust therapy, and since I'm not willing to

risk my bite opening up again from this, I've been going. This can

be a really hard habit to break (at least in my experience), and for

me by far the most useful thing I have done is see an orofacial

myologist. Not to say the 'cage' i had didn't help, but there is

more to swallowing properly than just how far forward your tongue

goes, and as an adult, I find it helpful to learn the actual proper

techniques. I made the choice to not go until after surgery, because

I had tried so many things before, I just didn't think it was worth

getting used to swallowing one way, and then having my teeth in a new

position and have to get used to a new way without help, so I just

continued to work on it on my own. That being said, probably the

earlier you start this, the better!!

To share tips from the therapist I see: For the resting posture, the

tip of your tongue should be resting about 1/2 cm back from your

front teeth on the bony ridge there. If you say " da " , right where

your tongue comes off the roof of your mouth is where your tongue tip

should be resting...the rest of your tongue should also be up at the

top of your mouth. When you swallow, you should have a ball of

food/liquid on top of your tongue, and the tip should be where it is

when resting. Your tongue is supposed to smush into the roof of your

mouth from front to back to help you swallow the food. I actually

have probably a kajillion different exercises that I've had to do,

just to strengthen the right muscles, which apparentl tongue

thrusters tend to lack. The most useful actual swallowing exercise

I've had to do is to put a toothpick (the round ones, not the flat

ones -- those will break) held behind my two eye teeth, open up my

lips like a clown (keep back teeth together) and slurp the saliva

back, and then swallow with lips open (the idea is that your tongue

doesn't touch the toothpick). Ok this has turned into a really long

post, but feel free to let me know if you have any more questions...I

really cannot recommend seeing a therapist enough, for me it's the

most helpful.

-

> >

> > When I went to the ortho I found out I'm a tongue thruster. I read

> > some of the older posts on the topic and some people mention

> exercises

> > you can do to help shollow correct, does anyone have some to share

> > with me or can recommend a good website?

> >

> > Is it even worth working on before my surgery?

> >

> > Beth

[Guest guest]

Thanks ,

That does help, and I will talk to my ortho more on the next visit to

see if I should wait until after surgery to work on it more.

Isn't it crazy how much we have to think about swallowing, eating and

biting down that most people don't think twice about.