Tongue Thruster

Updated on October 20, 2011
S.D. asks from Peoria, AZ
5 answers

My child is a tongue thruster... any others out there ? Should I get the retainer ( night gard ) to help correct it ? Should I just get info on doing exercises ??? I am afraid to invest in braces and have this issue continue to space her teeth again later on.

**she is 11 years old...no speech issues, no lispse, she has lots of spacing in her teeth, she swallows funny as she pushes her tongue against her teeth to swallow......that is about it.

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J.K.

answers from Phoenix on

I had that when I was little. I got a retainer with a hole in the top and a wire guard that came down. I was suppose to keep my tongue behind the wire guard and in the hole when I swallowed. I also had a lisp when I said my S's so I went to speech therapy. I had to train my tongue to not thrust when I swallowed and when I said my S's before they'd put braces on me. I also had to stop sucking my thumb. I was a mess and so were my teeth. But the retainer helped and so did the braces. Good luck!!

5 moms found this helpful
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M.M.

answers from Chicago on

My almost 7 year old has been in speech therapy for 1 year due to a tongue thrust issue. Consult a pediatric speech therapist for an evaluation.

3 moms found this helpful
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D.C.

answers from Fresno on

I'm a speech therapist and I would recommend getting an evaluation. It should be covered by most insurance plans. You may also want to consult with your school's speech therapist if you don't have a plan that covers it. I would definitely take care of it before beforing braces

2 moms found this helpful

B.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Just a few questions...
Does she have any other issues with balance, problems chewing, muscle weakness anywhere else, joint hypermobility, odd way of walking, or headaches/pain?
Have you noticed anything besides the swallowing or tongue thrusting? And one last thing, does she take any medications...sometimes this can be a side effect of meds.
What does her pediatrican say about this? I totally agree with the speech evaluation but if there are any other symptoms or reasons for her tongue thrusting, your doc may want to consider a little more investigation into her issue.

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R.M.

answers from San Francisco on

My daughter did this; she even had speech therapy in school for it. I couldn't get her to do her exercises faithfully -- she had braces, and continued the habit afterward. She's 18, and her teeth are just very slightly pushed forward, post-braces, because of it, but it's not unattractive.

Is she going to have braces? If not, then you might want to get some kind of retainer. If she's going to have them, I don't see why it will matter, but I'm no orthodontist.

Jaimee's idea might be a good one, to help her unlearn the habit.

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