TEACH FUNCTIONAL TONGUE REST POSTURE

Your tongue is your natural expander of the upper jaw.

Why we don’t grow full faces anymore…

The tongue rest posture is the conductor that orchestrates the whole face development and the functionality/wellness/soundness of our breathing and sleeping.

The tongue resting flat on the roof of the mouth provides the scaffolding effect needed by the upper jaw for a proper wide development promoting better tooth alignment, well-defined cheekbones, larger upper airway, reducing nasal obstruction, and risks of sleep apnea.

Let’s be aware that the upper jaw is not only the roof of the mouth; is also the floor of the nose.

Missing the support of the tongue the jaws will grow restricted- deep and narrow, V-shaped affecting the air-way, nostril size, and arch shape.Besides the evident teeth crowding due to lack of space, smaller jaws set up narrower airways increasing the chances of snoring and OSA in adults. In addition to that, a tongue resting on the floor instead of the roof has the tendency to gravitate in the back of the throat during sleep causing or aggravating the sleep disordered-breathing SDB.

But what stops the tongue from achieving the proper oral posture?

An improper low tongue posture can have different causes:

structural – where the tongue is tied to the floor of the mouth and has restricted mobility- known as tongue-tie or ankyloglossia;

simply habitual due to behaviours that forced the tongue to remain low: bottle feeding, extended use of pacifiers, sippy cups use, thumb-sucking, nails biting, mouth-breathing and more.