TONGUE THRUST

Tongue thrust

Signs that your child may have a tongue thrust (retained infant swallow) include noisy breathing, messy eating and speech problems.

As many as 20 percent of the children we see at Smileworx have an undiagnosed tongue thrust.

Every baby is born with the ability to breastfeed as a reflex action. The tongue comes forward to protect the airway and prevent the baby from breathing in milk.

Unfortunately in some children this reflex persists and becomes an entrenched habit. In turn, the tongue doesn’t encourage the roof of the mouth to develop to the maximum width; eventually teeth become crowded because there’s not enough room for them to grow. It may also become difficult for the child to get the tongue back to the correct position because the jaw is now too narrow.