[ Post a Response | AAC, Special Education, and Inclusion ]
Posted by dawnlsp The ortho in my area wants to see my daughter back in 3 years to begin taking out teeth blah, blah blah. He said it's a matter of "form over function"...fix the form (teeth) and the function (tongue thrust) will correct itself...BULL! I do not believe that will happen, at least in my daughter's case. He claims tongue thrusting cannot move teeth because there is not enough sustained pressure on the teeth. It only happens momentarily when you swallow. I thought about that and researched it by asking my sister and my neighbor, who had braces put on by this ortho and has a tell-tale circle opening (tongue thrust damage) when she tries to occlude her teeth, and realized damage is done at night when the tongue is at rest b/c the resting posture for thrusters is incorrect. Intermittent pressure on the teeth from swallowing might not have enough sustained pressure to move teeth, but 8-12 hours of pressure at NIGHT sure does! Just think, if the studies I have read are true, and tongue thrusting is responsible for even 50% of orthodontic problems, you think orthos are going to admit to that and have 50% of a billion $ industry be swept away by correcting tongue thrusting first? Never! Also, why do people have to wear retainers at night after they get their braces off? Some people I have interviewed have been told they will have to wear them forever. WHY???? If that is the case, I guess the braces should have never come off? I think many of these orthos/dentists know, but don't want to admit that tongue thrusting will move the teeth again so they make these people wear these retainers they will eventually give up. What happens when they stop wearing them? Their teeth move. Who do they blame then? Themselves because they didn't do what their ortho told them to do....wear the retainer! Sorry, I am not one to put too much stock into things like this, but I think there is definitely something going on here. I am not sure that it is a lack of education or unwillinginess of an industry to admit fault, or both, but I am working to find out. Since swallowing falls under our domain and no one elses, it looks like SLP's will have to be the ones to bring this very common problem to light. This year alone, I have at least 3 thrusters on my caseload and I know I will have more by the end of the year. I only hope I can find a dentist/ortho that will treat it before they start ripping out teeth or widening structures that may not need widened. My daughter is only 4, but I can see the damage being done and she is now starting to use a lisp....something she NEVER did before!
on 10/21/2006, 2:57 pm, in reply to "Re: tongue thrust"
24.136.132.72
Having a daughter with a significant tongue thrust, I have a very different opinion than the previous post. I have been researching this topic extensively this last year and what I have found amazes me. I am beginning to believe that possibly 50% (some studies suggest as high as 80%) of orthodontic problems are caused by tongue thrusting. As I stated, my daughter has a very obvious tongue thrust, as does my sister. My sister had gone the dental/ortho route as we didn't know she had a tongue thrust way back when. However, after the widening and braces and major $, her teeth are moving and separating again. I kept asking her why this was and she blamed herself saying "I don't wear my retainer". After she moved to the city I currently live in last year, it finally hit me...she has a tongue thrust!!! I have been told by orthos in my area and by dental professionals at the Chapel Hill Dental School that may daughters' problems are caused by her bottom jaw and upper jaw being different sizes. Supposedly, your top jaw grows faster, which I find hard to believe b/c I think we would all look funny. I was then asked if she sucks her thumb or fingers. I told them she did, but that it was stopped before her second birthday. The amazing thing was that I took a picture of her with us from her 2nd birthday that shows her teeth perfectly occulded. Obviously no damage from the finger sucking which she only did at night. He still looked at her fingers and thumb, I guess to see if I was lying. Obviously he didn't believe the jaw crap he through out at us a few mintues earlier or why would he even bother to look at her fingers? I asked him if he was ever taught about tongue thrust and he said they spent a few minutes on it! It was then that I began to realize very few, if any dental/ortho professionals are educated in tongue thrust and truly know the damage it can cause. He then went on to tell me that her bottom lip, which now catch her upper teeth, are causing her teeth to move more!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, the tongue cannot do damage during swallowing, but the lip has enough sustained pressure on the teeth to move them??? Come on! Try putting pressure on your teeth with your lip. You can't! It's not that strong. That is, by far, the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!
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