For both children and adults: Please be aware that the presence of distorted s, z, ch (commonly referred to as a “lisp”) and/or other distorted sounds in combination with gaps between the teeth, an overbite, crossbite, or underbite is a red flag for possible tongue thrust.
I see many clients in my practice who have never had their tongue thrust identified. The result of not correcting the tongue thrust is the possibility of multiple sets of braces and/or speech therapy that “didn’t work”. In reality what happens is that the symptoms (misaligned teeth or distorted speech) were addressed, but not the cause (tongue pushing on teeth during the swallow, and/or improperly placed during speech).
Some of my clients have undergone jaw surgery, or other oral-facial orthopedic interventions and still their bite “regressed” once the orthodontia was completed. Some have told me that they changed orthodontists thinking the work was not good; however, starting over with an orthodontist unfamiliar with the client may have contributed to the pattern not being identified.
The parent of a child I evaluated last week told me her son was in speech therapy for two years and did not improve like she expected; also that he had been seen by two other therapists and neither had identified or treated his tongue thrust. As soon as we identified it, she said it made “perfect sense” to her and she could see for herself that her son was thrusting his tongue forward during speech. He has gaps between his teeth and is getting to the age he will require orthodontia.
In the case of an executive I know, his speech calls attention to itself. That is to say, what he says gets lost in how he says it. His tongue is highly visible and saliva “spray” so evident, that people focus on his prominent tongue or not getting sprayed rather than what he wants them to hear. By the way, his bite is a classic overbite.
I actually had one client tell me she was about to get her 9th set of braces. Expensive! Not to mention frustrating. Her s and z sounds were mildly distorted, though nobody had ever called her attention to the fact.
Here are three quick ways to screen for tongue thrust: 1) Is the tongue obvious (visible) when saying these words: seas, zippers, church, judge, tweets, none, dude? It should not be. 2) Take a small sip of water, hold it in your mouth (do not swallow it). Then grin a toothy smile. Is the water visible on the lower lip or spilling out of the mouth? It should not be. 3) Is there saliva “spray” when speaking? There should not be. One “yes” indicates you may benefit from a tongue thrust evaluation. There are many other features with tongue thrust which can (and should be) evaluated and treated.
See an ASHA-certified Speech/Language Pathologist with experience in oral-myofunctional therapy for a professional evaluation to find out more.
