Did you know there are over 40 muscles in your face and mouth? These muscles work together with your tongue to enable you to eat, breathe, speak, and swallow normally. Tongue thrusting is a normal occurrence up until the age of about five to six months old. If it lasts longer, it can become a problem. Children and adults can benefit from myofunctional therapy to correct or eliminate bad habits that often lead to painful symptoms and other health issues.
Tongue thrusting is when your tongue pushes forward in your mouth, pressing against your teeth or past your teeth and lips. It can occur while speaking or swallowing. While this action is normal during infancy, it can cause many issues later in life.
Myofunctional Therapy involves a set of exercises that helps train your face, tongue, and mouth muscles to move properly. The goal is to strengthen these muscles so they can perform correctly.
Often, a baby’s tongue moves forward in their mouth as they are being breast or bottle-fed. During this stage of life, tongue thrusting helps avoid choking by pushing the source of nutrition down where it needs to go. If this action continues past the age of 3-4, it is known as an orofacial myofunctional disorder (OMD). A specialist in myofunctional therapy, a speech-language therapist, an orthodontist, or a dentist can help eliminate the habit.
Reasons for myofunctional therapy and/or dental work to aid in the correction of oral movements are plentiful. Tongue thrust can cause:
A combination of myofunctional therapy exercises and orthodontic appliances can help by retraining your muscles and to move your teeth around in a comfortable way.
Myofunctional therapy includes working on the strength, coordination, and positioning of your mouth and throat. Some exercises in myofunctional therapy include:
Exercises range from easy to difficult depending on where the focus is needed. All these actions will help to properly move your mouth while strengthening the muscles over time.
When the soft tissue in your throat relaxes too much, it can cause your airway to close for a short period. This lends itself to sleep apnea where breathing starts and stops, shallow breathing occurs and can result in snoring. So, why might you choose myofunctional therapy? It will improve the function of your muscles which can help keep your airways open. Wouldn’t it be nice to finally sleep peacefully again and perhaps even not bother the person sleeping beside you?
Did you know there are four kinds of tongue thrusts?
1. Anterior Thrust – The most common type of tongue thrusting where your tongue pushes against the front of your teeth.
2. Lateral Thrust – Your tongue pushes to the side of your teeth and cheeks either unilaterally or bilaterally.
3. Posterior Thrust – When your tongue pushes against the roof of your mouth, just behind your front teeth instead of pushing forward as it should.
4. Multiple Thrust – This type of tongue thrusting is where the tongue does it all, pushing against the back and sides of your teeth, cheeks, and up to the roof of your mouth.
There are various treatment options depending on the type of tongue thrusting.
At Northmount Dental Care, we know how to help tongue thrusting and have the resources and tools you need. We will perform a thorough examination of your mouth, go over your medical history, and have an open conversation about all the options available to aid in eliminating this habit. Myofunctional therapy and dental procedures can help you achieve your goals.
*All services provided by the general dentists at Northmount Dental Care.