Tongue Thrust

What is tongue thrust?
Tongue thrust is one of several terms describing a swallowing and tongue rest pattern in which an individual pushes the tongue against or between the teeth. The primary characteristic is the protrusion of the tongue while swallowing and at rest.

What causes tongue thrust?
Patients and parents always want to know what causes tongue thrust. There are no easy answers. The following are the most commonly cited causes of tongue thrust in the literature: 

  • improper infant feeding

  • mouth breathing

  • enlarged tonsils and adenoids

  • thumb and finger sucking

  • genetic factors (e.g. inherited malocclusion)

Should I be worried about tongue thrust?
Many people who have tongue thrust live their whole lives and never have any problems with their teeth or speech. For others, they may encounter difficulty with dental malocclusion or speech articulation difficulties. There is widespread agreement among specialists that the resting posture of the tongue, lips, and jaw are important to good speech articulation and dental occlusion. Some sounds that may be affected by tongue thrust are: “s, z, t, d, ch, sh”

How do I know if I/my child has tongue thrust?
The answer to whether someone has tongue thrust must be based on a thorough examination of the oral structures and tongue function during swallowing, speech, and rest by a qualified professional. However, certain oral habits frequently accompany tongue thrust including:

  • thumb/finger sucking 

  • chewing on fingernails, pencils, clothes, or other objects

  • mouth breathing

  • cracked, chapped, or sore lips from excessive licking

  • habitually resting the tongue against or between the teeth

  • drinking large amounts of liquids with meals to wash down the food

How can a Speech-Language Pathologist (S-LP) help?
An S-LP can assess you/your child to determine if there is a tongue thrust pattern. In the event that the tongue thrust pattern is causing articulation or swallowing difficulties, the S-LP can help develop and implement an intervention program to correct these difficulties. By correcting resting tongue posture, the S-LP can help even if you/your child are not experiencing any articulation or swallowing difficulties as a result of the tongue thrust pattern. If you/your child are receiving orthodontic treatment for your tongue thrust, speech-language pathology intervention for resting tongue postures can help make the orthodontic treatments easier to achieve and can help to maintain/preserve the

Related therapies to treat this condition:

Oral Rest Posture Program

From a speech (articulation) perspective, one’s oral rest posture is the starting place for all speech sounds. 

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