What Is Tongue Thrust In Babies And Adults?

After reading the title, you might be wondering “what is tongue thrust?”

The answer to this question is:

Pressing your tongue forward between upper and lower teeth when you are swallowing is a bad habit. Due to this inappropriate orthodontic condition, “tongue thrust” happens.

This problem especially occurs in children because they have this bad habit. Also, It may generate problems like:

Allergies
Infection in mouth
Poor swallow

In This Article hide

1 Let’s know more about “baby tongue thrust.”

2 After reading about babies, let’s talk about tongue thrust in adults:

3 Tongue thrust therapy:

4 Tongue thrust diagnosed:

5 What kind of problems can occur by tongue thrust?

6 Treatment of tongue thrust:

7 Final Words:

Let’s know more about “baby tongue thrust.”

Babies who feed by breast and bottle mostly have this problem. When the babies get older, their swallowing and speaking habits normally change.

However, it is not good to use bottles to feed babies, and this can cause tongue thrust in childhood.

There are some other causes also which creates tongue thrust:

Sucking thumb, fingers and tongue
Allergies in mouth
Short or tight tongue
Inappropriate swallowing habit

Following are the symptoms of tongue thrust in babies:

Tongue tip stuck between teeth
Breathing by mouth
Not able to touch lips with each other
Messy eating
Swallowing reflex

After reading about babies, let’s talk about tongue thrust in adults:

Suppose you had tongue thrust problems in your childhood and did not take any medication. Then you must have this problem in your adult age also.

Mouth allergies, tonsils in the throat, and stress are the main factors of tongue thrust in adult age. Remember that this problem is not common in adult age.

Symptoms of tongue thrust in adults are the same as in children tongue stuck between teeth, not able to touch lips, etc.

Tongue thrust therapy:

Read the below points to know about tongue thrust therapy:

Keep a orthodontic rubber band on tip of the tongue
Press the tip of the tongue against gum right behind your front teeth
Bite your teeth together
Keep your lips away
Then swallow

Tongue thrust diagnosed:

Different kinds of doctors diagnoses tongue thrust, including:

General practitioners
Pediatricians
Pathologist
Dentist

Doctors can easily find out what is in eating and swallowing.

Some pathologists may identify swallowing patterns in the tongue-thrust reflex by holding the lips and check the swallowing process.

What kind of problems can occur by tongue thrust?

Yes, tongue thrust reflex can cause many other problems like:

Malformed teeth
Front teeth out
Creates gap between teeth
Problem in speaking
Effect the shape of the face
Tongue stuck between teeth

Treatment of tongue thrust:

Treatment of tongue thrust is the same for children and adults.

There is only one difference: the tool which is used for children is “tongue grab,” and the process which is used for adults is known as “orthodontic treatment.”

The orthodontic treatment includes orofacial, which helps the placement of lips, jaw, and tongue.

Final Words:

We hope that the above points helped you to know about what tongue thrust is, baby tongue thrust, tongue thrust reflex, tongue thrust therapy, and tongue thrust treatment. Now, you know everything about tongue thrust and its treatment so, if you or your child is suffering from tongue thrust, use the above treatment and leave a thank you comment after your tongue thrust problem gets resolved.