Anyone ever heard of TONGUE THRUSTING?

[Kenziesmom]

DD has done this since birth, she will be 12 this month. The Orthodontist says she needs braces but we have to fix the tongue thrusting problem first. Really don't know how to explain...I guess it's almost like a lisp..they say it's because her tongue muscles are weak ..maybe someone can explain it better and maybe give a little help on how to fix it! We were ready to put braces on her teeth..insurance pays the 1st 2000 bucks on braces, but won't pay anything on the treatments for tongue thrusting...it has a name...I won't even try to spell. Any advice?

[lindberg99]

One of my friend's DD's had to get braces and have speech therapy for tongue thrust. I can't really remember but it sounded like the girl was pushing her tongue against her front teeth when she swallowed and the therapy was to train her to put her tongue on the roof of her mouth when she swallowed instead.

I don't know if this is what your DD is doing too? (Pushing tongue against her front teeth) But if she is, maybe you could look up some info on how to work with her and do it yourself at home? Or maybe just pay for one or two visits to a therapist and then have her work on it at home?

[mothragirl]

i do it. therapy didn't work. bisecting my tongue helped a lot, but i'm pretty sure that isn't an option for a 12 yo

[Kenziesmom]

That is what she does..pushes her tongue against her teeth, but she does it toward the front AND to the side..they say when they push toward the side..it's hardest to cure..We are going to the specialist (Orofacial Myologist) next week. It's pretty expensive..90 bucks for 1st visit, and then 45 bucks per visit after. she will go every week for a few weeks and then every other week up to 12 visits. So, for about 600 bucks, we might get it fixed. I just hope she will put forth a good effort, if not we'll go one or two visits and be done with it! I think she'll do good, she wants to get the braces on her teeth to straighten them out! Oh, and insurance pays nothing for this therapy because it's a habit that she can control... I'm glad to know others atleast know what I'm talking about!

And..what is bisecting your tongue? I've kidded her that we need to cut some of it off! ha

[mothragirl]

a tongue split
it actually helped my lisp and my tongue thrust. i don't know if any therapy would have helped.

[Kenziesmom]

ok, I kinda sat here mouth wide open for a few minutes, keep in mind...I'm 40... WOW!!! I have never seen anything like that! ...ok and I'm from small town Alabama... Did you have that done because of the thrusting or just because ..and it happened to help? No, not my 12 yo. haha Lord knows what she'll do on her own someday...
I have to ask, was it hard to talk after you had it done? In my day, a nose piercing was beyond radical...here anyway..haha

[leerypolyp]

I did it. I also had crossbite, so had retainers and (largely unnecessary) braces more for that. But for the speech I had speech therapy from about second grade through fourth, sporadically. It helped, kind of. I sound "normal" to most people, though I can still hear/feel a slight thrust on certain sounds.

They wanted to do a bunch of crazy stuff, like break my palate to widen it. I'm glad we only got as far as speech therapy.

[mothragirl]

Originally Posted by Kenziesmom

ok, I kinda sat here mouth wide open for a few minutes, keep in mind...I'm 40... WOW!!! I have never seen anything like that! ...ok and I'm from small town Alabama... Did you have that done because of the thrusting or just because ..and it happened to help? No, not my 12 yo. haha Lord knows what she'll do on her own someday...
I have to ask, was it hard to talk after you had it done? In my day, a nose piercing was beyond radical...here anyway..haha

just because, but it has helped a lot. the only thing it changed about my speech was the loss of my lisp! i've had it for years and i don't even notice it anymore.

[kristinc]

Hi momma, I was just reading your post about tongue thrusting. I am ped/preg chiropractor who has dealt with tongue thrusting in babies and it responded so well to a chiropractic adjustment. Like i said, I usually saw them in infancy because they were having touble nursing with a tongue thrust, but you said that your daughter was 12 years old, correct? It has to do with improper innervation coming from the brain to the tongue and back of the throat and adjusting the neck is highly effective. I would suggest going to the icpa.com website and trying to find a pediatric chiropractor in your area. Save surgery and orthodonture as your last ditch effort to correct it.

[Nelybel]

Hi there,

Just want to chime in. I had a tongue thrust...and had to have braces to straighten my teeth as well. I was given a "hayrake" retainer (which didn't work...I just pushed my tongue against the hayrake rather than my teeth. But I thought about it a lot and tried to change. Its funny - no one can really explain "how" they swallow. Its been funny watching my family and even my orthodontist try to explain. Anyhow - I thought about it every time I drank something...and it worked. I pretty much swallow correctly now. Some nights if I'm super tired I wake up with sore teeth and think that I may be doing it in my sleep. Also, over 25 years my teeth have moved a little bit...but not much. So I think I basically fixed it on my own. Its a frustrating thing to have and my orthodontist thought I would need to wear a retainer for the rest of my life. Hmmm - haven't done that either.

So - just to say that with lots of reminding and thinking about and experimenting every time she swallows food or liquid, she may be able to retrain her swallow. I found it didn't work as well when I was just swallowing to swallow, kwim. Having something in my mouth helped. I notice I still think about it when getting a drink sometimes.

Good luck to her.

J

[Electra375]

My ds1 is in speech therapy w our public schools and the reason was Tongue Thrust. Actually, the school missed it, but the pedi dentist defined the problem and then I went back to the schools since our medical insurance would not cover speech therapy.
Our orthodontist was going to use a Tongue Crib to correct the problem if it still existed after the palate expander was removed. Ds1 age 8 ended up not needing the Tongue Crib.

[Kenziesmom]

Sorry, been busy at work...thanks for all the replies!
DD had her 1st tongue thrust therapy appt Mon. She seems to be really interested in getting this "fixed". She had speech therapy in 4k and 5k, she's in private school, well we moved and she transferred to another private school and they didn't offer speech therapy..I would have to take off work and take her to the public school on my own time. My insurance doesn't pay for it either. A local college has a clinic for speech and they offer tongue thrust therapy..kind of expensive, but you don't have to pay it all at once...it's so much per visit and she just has to go like 10 visits. She needs braces to straighten her teeth, damage done by her tongue pushing against them! So far she is doing her "exercises" religiously..wish us luck!