tongue thrust and proper swallowing

[Guest guest]

I just got braces on today for the second time in 10 years. Lucky

me.

The main problem I have is an open bite. That plus a class III and

crossbite, but the openbite is what really bothers me because my

class III is not so bad---it's more like edge to edge than the lower

being in front of the upper.

To try to fix the open bite, my orthodontist installed these sharp

lingual " reminders " on the back side of my lower front teeth. They

are very sharp and if my tongue hits them, it basically stabs my

tongue. Not pleasant but that's the idea.

However, I have NO CLUE how i am actually supposed to swallow. They

didn't really tell me. The result is that it just took me an hour

to eat/drink my soup.

Is there any good info on this? I don't want to adopt an incorrect

swallowing position since I already have one. Anyone else suffer

from this?

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

I just learned, courtesy of someone on site two, that there is such a

thing as an orofacial myologist. These people apparently specialize

in tongue thrust, and treat other problems with the muscles of the

face and mouth, including stuttering and other speech troubles, I

gather. (Not sure what the difference is between an orofacial

myologist and a speech therapist, or whether they are the same.)

But I was interested to read about it. Apparently one of the things

they do is to help children older than 6 or so stop thumb-sucking.

I'll bet they also have lessons in the right way to swallow.

Good luck! I think tongue thrust can indeed be a tough problem to

solve, but some folks have done it.

All that business with spurs and cribs and such sounds medieval to

me, but maybe it's a necessary part of the treatment. I'm glad I

never had to have it, though.

Cammie

> >

> > I just got braces on today for the second time in 10 years.

Lucky

> > me.

> >

> > The main problem I have is an open bite. That plus a class III

and

> > crossbite, but the openbite is what really bothers me because my

> > class III is not so bad---it's more like edge to edge than the

> lower

> > being in front of the upper.

> >

> > To try to fix the open bite, my orthodontist installed these

sharp

> > lingual " reminders " on the back side of my lower front teeth.

They

> > are very sharp and if my tongue hits them, it basically stabs my

> > tongue. Not pleasant but that's the idea.

> >

> > However, I have NO CLUE how i am actually supposed to swallow.

> They

> > didn't really tell me. The result is that it just took me an

hour

> > to eat/drink my soup.

> >

> > Is there any good info on this? I don't want to adopt an

incorrect

> > swallowing position since I already have one. Anyone else suffer

> > from this?

> >

> > Thanks,

> >

> >