By Jennifer Rand, DMD T he tongue plays an important role in respi-ration, mastication, swallowing and speech. With normal swallowing, the tip of the tongue rests on the lingual part of the maxillary anterior dentoalveolar area; the teeth then come into momentary contact and minimal contraction of the perio-ral muscles occurs. 1 Tongue thrusting is a predomi-nate swallowing pattern in infants, but by the age of 2 – 4 years old, a functional mature swallow develops. A tongue thrust habit is a condition in which the tongue makes contact with any teeth anterior to the molars during swallowing. 2 It has been reported that the Braces will correct GG’s bite but once they are removed, the tongue is strong enough to cause the teeth to return to their original opened position. For this reason, it is important to correct the tongue thrust before orthodontic treatment begins and we will make that part of our treatment. prevalence of tongue thrusting decreases with increasing age. 3 But a prolonged tongue-thrusting habit has been shown to be associ-ated with an open bite; a long facial pattern and the proclination of upper anterior teeth. 4 Clinical Analysis Patient GG came to our office as a 13-year, 9-month-old grow-ing male with a chief complaint of an anterior open bite that extended from canine to canine. He had a tongue thrust habit that Fig. 1 24 Winter 2023 JAOS
Journal of the American Orthodontic Society Winter 2023: Page 24
