Tongue Thrusting - help!

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#16 Post by **sdawdy** » Mon May 11, 2009 7:41 pm

My mom had braces as an adult because she sucked her thumb as a child and it caused a severe overbite. When she got her braces off, her retainer had 4 u shaped prongs coming down from it to keep her tongue from hitting her front teeth. I remember her having a few days of major problems with it but now she has retrained her tongue and does not need it anymore except a few nights a week to make sure her teeth stay in the right spot.

#17 Post by **Skylark** » Tue May 19, 2009 2:02 am

Thanks for all your helpful replies, it's clearly a common problem. I'm trying to keep my tongue on the roof of my mouth during the day (I think the prob might be because I'm a mouth breather). I'm now aware that I sometimes push on my left incisor at night too, and am just hoping that the removable appliances will improve my bite and that I'll be in retainers as soon as possible! Feel that my front teeth are unprotected despite bonded retainer.

Does anyone know if tongue thrusting can dramatically move front teeth even when held by a bonded retainer? My incisor has moved slightly but the ortho says this is probably because there's a tiny bit of 'give' in the wire.

#18 Post by **Skylark** » Tue May 19, 2009 2:07 am

PS I should add that my left molars have moved up and outwards which I'm guessing is due to this problem, and which is why I'm back in an active retainer.

My bonded retainer is a twisted wire attached to all 6 front teeth plus first molar on the left. It's attached to the first molar to give my left incisor added stability, but both molar and incisor have shifted upwards slightly. Is this movement likely to continue, despite bonded retainer? (Am hoping to get essix style retainers within 3 or 4 months).