Tongue Thrust Advice..........???

My daughter had the same diagnosis by her dentist about 1.5 years ago at age 5. My daughter seemed to speak clearly to me and be understood by others. I didn't realize she had speech issues until I heard her count from 60 through to 79. I could really hear it in those s's. We have been seeing a speech therapist (off & on due to our schedule) and definitely seen progress. The other thing I learned about the tongue thrust is that her tongue rested on the bottom of her mouth and it should be at the top. The first focus of therapy was to strength the tongue muscle and get it to the top. That's not an easy task and it still isn't always at the top.

I would say earlier is better to deal with this issue. Speech habits are easier to break this way.

Hello J.,
I am a SAHM who was working as a speech therapist and I have worked with children with tongue thrust...and it can have an amazing and profound effect on their bite. Tongue thrust is one of the speech issues that isn't always as obvious as many others, but the dental issues caused by the tongue being used inappropriately can effect not only the bite but also the growth of the jaw and all of the dentition. There are some really good private SLPs who work on tongue thrust and I would recommend having your child seen by one of them because then you will get your money's worth for the time and effort that you and your daughter put into correcting the problem. (I'd recommend this clinic because the SLP here really knows her stuff: http://www.donofrioslp.com/ and I've been really impressed by her training sessions I've attended).
-Rebecca

Hi J.,
I had a tongue thrust growing up and had it corrected with an arch-wire while I had my braces on. The wire had 4 prongs that came down from the roof of my mouth behind my front teeth and kept my tongue back. I also focused on keeping my tongue back, but the hardware helped reinforce it. I had it in for about a year. It wasn't sharp, didn't poke my tongue or anything. I think speech therapy would be helpful - if she can retrain herself then all the better. I occasionally still catch myself resting my tongue on the back of my teeth but having the arch-wire forced me to speak correctly (primarily t, d, s sounds on the roof of my mouth rather than the back of my teeth). I had all of this done while I was in high school and survived without any trouble. I am 35 now and have not had any trouble with my tongue pushing my teeth back out. Hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail me directly if you would like more info.

Hi. My stepdaughter had the same issue. I could tell from early in our relationship that she had speech issues, although not REALLY obvious to others. I worked in special ed for five years previously. I attempted to discuss the issue of speech therapy early on, way before braces, but the request went unnoticed. (I didn't and don't have a whole lot of say in her treatment options) She wore braces for 2 years, with the ortho recommending speech therapy to reduce any impact of the tongue on changes to the teeth. She never underwent any speech therapy and her teeth are just fine. She continues to wear both the lower and upper retainers EVERY night. I still hear the tongue thrust in certain words. She is hard to understand when speaking quickly and gets frustrated when we can't make out what she is trying to say. She is now 16, almost 17 and can just deal with it on her own. As long as her teeth continue to stay put, I believe she is old enough.

My daughter was diagnosed with tongue thrust and mouth breathing at 5 y.o. during a speech evaluation (a lisp being the main issue). The speech therapist would not work with her until her tonsils/adenoids were removed so she could start breathing through her nose (I had no idea how complicated these issues were!). Her T & A's were removed and we went through about 6-9 months of speech therapy with good success. Then my dentist recommended an orthodontic appliance to open up the arch of her teeth and roof of her mouth--many more months of ortho, and no speech therapy during due to the appliance. She is now 9 y.o. and has few speech issues (no lisp), relatively straight permanent teeth and only a slight issue with swallowing dry or textured foods. We will be returning to the original speech therapist for some fine-tuning on her swallowing. I really had no idea how involved this issue was or how damaging it was. My daughter has a very difficult time swimming because she cannot blow air forcefully out of her nose. Definitely involve an ENT, speech therapist and dentist/orthodontist!!