Tongue Thrust Therapy Experiences and Advice

I have a success story for you!
My older (now 11) had mild tongue thrust plus an overbite (although not an open bite) and the lisp on S and Z sounds. We took him to an orthodontic consult. My son already had his adult 2 front teeth in and they were pointed at an angle out with a small gap between them. According to the ortho, it was a bit of a self-propagating loop. As the teeth came in, there was nothing to hold the tongue back so the tongue pushed the teeth. Then because the teeth were pushed, there was still nothing to hold the tongue back so it pushed the teeth more. It also lead to the lisp on S and z sounds, especially when they were in the middle of words and harder to control.

The ortho suggested braces to pull the teeth back and get rid of the gap, followed by a a bionator to correct the overbite, and then retainer to keep the the teeth in place. We did it, and it worked. The braces were only for about 7 months. Then he was in the bionator 24/7 for about 6 months, then bionator only while sleeping for 6 months, and now he's been in regular clear plastic retainers (top and bottom) while sleeping for about 6 months. He'll stay in the retainers while sleeping until all his permanent teeth are in, to guide them into place as they come in. The front teeth are back in place and the lisp completely resolved on its own once the front teeth were in place. They will make a new retainer every 6 months or so since he's constantly got teeth falling out and growing in at this age. They do not think that he's going to need a "phase 2" of braces. It might sound like a lot, but only 6 months of braces is really short, and the rest of it is all very easily - mostly just bionator/retainer while sleeping.

We didn't go for the consult until he was almost 9, and the ortho put us straight into the treatment plan - I think he would have done it sooner if we had gone sooner.

Good luck - and make sure you get a few ortho consults. We got 2, and one practice wanted to do much more extensive stuff than the other. We went with the less invasive plan and are very happy.

ETA: We did get an extensive speech eval at a center that does all kinds of developmental testing for kids. The speech therapist we saw said that in our son's case, she wanted him to start the ortho work first, then come back for a re-evaluation if the ortho work did not fix the lisp. Your daughter's case might be different from my son's, so I think that going for the speech eval is a good idea. But your child is also old enough for the ortho consult, and you might get the best results if you address both issues with professionals (speech therapist and ortho) together.

I have that when I sleep. I wake up with teeh marks on my tongue. I'm now too old to really worry about it but if I found some guard to wear at night, I'd buy it.

I was a tongue 'thruster' (although never quite sure what that meant) - all I ever had happen was my tongue doesn't sit inside my bite. So my bite is slightly open. You can't see my tongue.

I became a teeth grinder as a child, and now I wear a bite plane (or mouth guard). I had no problems with my speech.

I had no ENT issues.

I do have 2 children with ENT issues, but that was not related to their tongues. That was more ear troubles.

One of my kids does the same thing with his tongue as I do.

As a kid, my mom asked about my tongue and our pediatrician was not in the least bit concerned.

The only thing that bugs me about it is - my teeth will rest on my tongue sometimes and cause indentation. Nothing major, it's not painful - just not particularly attractive.

I actually have a 'perfect' bite and never required any braces or dental appliances. Other than my bite plane (or whatever you call it, just a little bit of plastic I wear on my top teeth) but that is purely because I grind my teeth.

I had no lisp and had no problems with speech. With my son with hearing issues (not related to tongue) I will say he did speech therapy and his speech came along super quickly - within months, and certainly within a year. So I would not be too concerned based on our experience and also friends' of ours.

I have never heard of the lisp thing being associated with an open bite before. That never came up with me, and hasn't been a problem whatsoever for my son. I guess as someone with an open bite, I don't really get how forming sounds would be a problem. I can move my tongue back into place without thinking. It just sits outside my mouth because it's more comfortable for it to - but it's not like it's stuck there. It's quite mobile. It would be great if you could follow up - I'm sure other moms would like to hear what happens.

Hope things work out for your child. Don't stress too much - I think it's much more common than you think :)

Thanks everyone. The reason that speech therapy was recommended over an orthodontist at this stage is because the thrust needs to be corrected. Apparently Any orthodontic work would be reversed by the tongue pushing back on her teeth unless the thrust is corrected. I'm definitely following up with the dentist's recommendation, I just wanted to hear other people's experiences and how effective therapy was (and how long it took!)

I guess I missed it...how do any of these things address the shape of her jawbone? You said the gap in her teeth so I'm assuming that means her teeth don't meet up? That she needs to have some baby teeth removed and perhaps a Bionator put in to change the shape of her jaws?

Once she gets to age 8 or 9 her jaw bone is going to be pretty solid and growing into the shape it's going to be, so getting medical assistance on her bones and gaps in teeth would be something that needs to be worked on currently.

My teeth were all over the place when I was a child.
I had a wide gap between my front teeth - I could fit my thumb between them.
An orthodontist and 7 years of braces fixed it (grades 5 through 11) (this was in the 70's).
Now they start kids on expanders younger than they use to to make room for the teeth in their jaws while the bones are still growing.
Did this with our son and he only had 2 years of braces and his teeth were perfect before he was finished with 6th grade.
He had his tonsils and adenoids out when he was 4 yrs old.
Kids go to speech therapy in school often in elementary school into the 2nd and 3rd grade.

I'd make an appointment with an orthodontist and see what they recommend.
While the tongue can affect teeth - it's only one factor and I think bone growth and jaw structure are bigger factors.

A friend of mine in high school had tmj.
It got fixed when she was an adult by surgery - breaking her jaw and re-positioning it to fix the alignment problem.

If the dentist recommends a speech therapist (SLP), why not just make an appointment and ask your question then? If you really want to ask questions first, you can call the office and ask to talk to someone. They might be able to give you some information, but chances are they would be much more helpful if they first see your daughter and read the dentist's notes.

Speech therapists actually do lots of things beyond simple articulation. When our son was 1 month old, he was referred to a speech therapist because of swallowing issues. I thought, you do realize he is 1 month old and can't talk, right? My SIL is an SLP, so I immediately called her to ask questions. Thankfully, she not only explained everything to me, she also told me just how important this was for me to do!

I don't know anyone who has faced what you and your daughter are dealing with, but I do think it's worth following up on your dentist's recommendation. Make the appointment, let the therapist read your dentist's notes and meet with your daughter. Just hear what he/she has to say.

I noticed a couple of people said they thought your daughter should see an orthodontist. I understand why that might sound like a good idea, but remember that dentists send patients to orthodontists everyday. If your dentist thought your daughter needed to see someone else, I would listen.