Like thumb sucking, tongue thrusting is a normal behavioral pattern in young children. It’s actually part of the natural infantile swallowing pattern, which will normally change on its own, by the age of six, in most children.
Tongue thrusting, a common behavior, is the habit of placing the tongue in the wrong position during swallowing. The tongue can be placed either to the sides or too forward. A constant level of pressure is needed for swallowing. However, it involves pushing the tongue against the upper front teeth when speaking, swallowing or at rest and constant exposure to such a pressure can force the teeth and arches to go out of alignment. This habit is involuntary and it is relatively difficult to rectify.
Besides the pressure exerted while swallowing, nervous thrusting also pushes the tongue against the teeth while it is at rest.
If the pattern doesn’t change, however, it can lead to problems similar to those caused by thumb sucking like problems with tooth alignment and skeletal development.
The causes for tongue thrusting are not much clear. However, many factors can cause such a condition. Some of them are as follows: Difficulty in deglutition, other ill habits like thumb sucking, mouth breathing etc., a large and lengthy tongue and in some cases, the child may also have a tongue-tie.
This is an involuntary, subconscious habit that is difficult to correct. Some children continue this behavior longer and when left untreated it can create an overbite. This habit combined with mouth breathing may be linked with anterior open bite, abnormal speech, and anterior protrusion of the maxillary incisors.
Fortunately, this problem can be successfully treated with a tongue thrusting habit breaking appliance. This can be either in the form of the crib, rake, or spiked style.
A tongue thrusting appliance is made for the patient that is permanently cemented in place. It is necessary to correct this habit prior to doing orthodontic treatment on a patient. If this habit is not corrected, the teeth will relapse after orthodontics due to the tongue pushing against the teeth when swallowing.