Tongue Thrust Treatment Advice

[ast]

I had four teeth extracted at the beginning of treatment with braces. Within a few years after completing treatment, I developed sleep apnea. I also was waking up at night from biting my tongue, both in front and on the left side, and sometimes choke by swallowing wrong. After a sleep study and work up including an airway study, I started orthodontic treatment to reopen the extraction spaces and eventually get implants to replace the extracted teeth. I saw four orthodontists, including one who specializes in sleep apnea and one who specializes in the restoration extracted teeth. The orthodontist I decided to go with initially said that I would require jaw surgery after having one year of treatment to straighten my teeth using Invisalign. After the first year, however, he changed his mind and said he was going to try to open the extraction spaces completely using Invisalign. At this point, a year and a half in, I have 4 mm of space on each side of my upper jaw and 2 mm on each side of my lower jaw, as well as having the teeth generally straightened. If all goes well, I will be ready for the upper implants in about eight months and then determine whether I can complete reopening the extraction spaces in my lower jaw without jaw surgery. Three of the four orthodontists I saw mentioned independently that I had tongue thrust problem. When I started treatment, I had pushed a gap between my two upper front teeth and rotated one of those front teeth at an angle apparently from the pressure of my tongue pushing against them. One the orthodontists I consulted wanted to send me for surgery for a frenectomy which he assured me the would correct the problem. The orthodontist that I am under treatment with said that he thought the best strategy was simply to wait for a year and see if the problem corrected itself as the space for my tongue increased during treatment. However, now year and a half into treatment, the problem actually seems to gotten worse as I am biting my tongue more than I used to. Is anybody on this board at a similar problem and, if yes, how was it treated? Any advice would be appreciated.

[assertives]

If you had a tongue thrusting habit before starting any treatment, my guess is that you would need to somehow work on correcting the habit. Only correcting the teeth positions is only temporary, and will relapse if you continue to tongue thrust after your treatment has ended. I have seen people talking about a tongue crib to "re-train" the tongue as part of their treatment. Perhaps you can ask your ortho's opinion about this?

[EmilyTravels]

Have you tried tongue exercises? They seem too simple to be effective, but I managed to completely retrain my tongue when I started tongue-thrusting after getting braces.

Basically, in front of a mirror, you just put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and swallow ten times without thrusting. Do this at least 4x a day for a few weeks. Also whenever sitting and reading or at the computer, practice mindfulness. Pay attention to where your tongue is, and move it back on your pallet. I even did this when I woke up at night to turn over. Before too long, it becomes second nature. I was able to stop the tongue-thrusting habit in about a month (or less) using these simple techniques.

If this doesn't work, there is an appliance called a "tongue tamer" that your orthodontist may be able to install.

Good luck!

[HummerMan3]

I have a tongue thrust as well and when my braces went on, they bonded "cleats" two the backs of 4 of my teeth. They were annoying as heck for the first several weeks, but I don't think that they effectively stopped the problem as my tongue now pushes on my cleated teeth (I think I built up a tolerance to them). If I was doing it over again, I would probably insist on a tongue crib. It's more invasive, but I'd imagine more effective.

[ast]

Thank you for your messages. I gather that the cleats are now removed. Do you still have braces? Did your orthodontist think that he solved the issue?

[Speck]

...whenever sitting and reading or at the computer, practice mindfulness. Pay attention to where your tongue is, and move it back on your pallet. I even did this when I woke up at night to turn over. Before too long, it becomes second nature. I was able to stop the tongue-thrusting habit in about a month (or less) using these simple techniques.

Excellent advice! I had a habit of clenching and grinding my teeth and disciplined mindfulness solved the problem in around a month's time. Good luck!

[solo321]

I also had a tongue thrust problem and I have managed to overcome it by being mindful of keeping my tongue on my palate and retraining my swallow. I took small sips of water to rapidly drill this.

[EmilyTravels]

Excellent advice! I had a habit of clenching and grinding my teeth and disciplined mindfulness solved the problem in around a month's time. Good luck!

Good for you. I had a much easier time breaking the tongue-thrusting habit than I am with clenching and grinding. I am working on the latter, but it is much more difficult for me, especially if anything stressful is going on. It is a much more ingrained habit, I guess. Chewing gum helps, but that tires my jaw out eventually, so I don't like to do it all the time.

[fruityjolly]

i am correctly also attempting to get rid of my tongue thrust. One problem i'm facing is how do i collect saliva in my mouth? Especially on the bottom part of my mouth.

[cakers]

I have tongue thrust as well and I am hoping to get into the speech therapy clinic at the local college for help with that (as well as the resulting lisp).