The Tic Tac Trick

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MissRed
Posts: 102
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:25 am
Location: United Kingdom

The Tic Tac Trick

#1 Post by MissRed »

So, I've been doing this for a week now, holding a tic tac with the tip of my tongue onto the roof of my mouth for as long as possible and swallowing the flavour in order to strengthen my tongue muscles and help me to learn how to swallow properly.

I feel as though I am making progress, certainly when sitting around watching tele etc, it seems a bit more normal for my tongue to be on the roof of my mouth rather than touching my teeth but I was just wondering...

Has anyone had any success with doing at home therapy/exercises for a tongue thrust? Can you really get rid of it on your own?

I sincerely hope you can because I don't think I can afford speech therapy etc and so far the ortho I have visited doesn't want to use appliances. I'd really like to hear any stories from people with this problem :).
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SunshineRay
Posts: 853
Joined: Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:44 am

Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#2 Post by SunshineRay »

I have never heard of this. When I was a tween and saw the ortho they said I had a tongue thrust and had me watch tv with a credit card in my mouth for so long. I dont remember all of the details but it sounds similar to your trick. My new ortho hasnt said anything about the tongue thrust so I dont know if I still have it.
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MissRed
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Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#3 Post by MissRed »

SunshineRay wrote:I have never heard of this. When I was a tween and saw the ortho they said I had a tongue thrust and had me watch tv with a credit card in my mouth for so long. I dont remember all of the details but it sounds similar to your trick. My new ortho hasnt said anything about the tongue thrust so I dont know if I still have it.
I've never heard of the credit card thing but that sounds quite interesting! It's encouraging to hear that your new ortho hasn't said anything, that must mean he thinks it's been fixed with previous exercises surely? :)
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"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

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sirwired
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Joined: Thu Oct 30, 2008 10:05 am

Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#4 Post by sirwired »

I'm surprised your ortho doesn't want to use appliances; it was my understanding that they are pretty effective and that getting rid of habits like tongue thrusting were absolutely essential for successful treatment.
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MissRed
Posts: 102
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 10:25 am
Location: United Kingdom

Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#5 Post by MissRed »

sirwired wrote:I'm surprised your ortho doesn't want to use appliances; it was my understanding that they are pretty effective and that getting rid of habits like tongue thrusting were absolutely essential for successful treatment.
He never mentioned them once, I get the feeling that he thinks the appliance only fixes one part of the problem and he'd rather his patients fixed the problem with exercises or therapy. But the thing is I'm not sure you can fix a tongue thrust all by yourself? I'm going to see a second orthodontist soon so it will be interesting to see what his views are on this.
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"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

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JohnsonSon
Posts: 48
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 8:16 pm

Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#6 Post by JohnsonSon »

I tried doing that with a mint but I got bored fast. It annoyed me more than anything.

I've had my tongue crib though for 5 months and I don't thrust anymore. I never knew what it was before, but now that I've had it in, I get it and I've stopped.
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MissRed
Posts: 102
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Location: United Kingdom

Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#7 Post by MissRed »

JohnsonSon wrote:I tried doing that with a mint but I got bored fast. It annoyed me more than anything.

I've had my tongue crib though for 5 months and I don't thrust anymore. I never knew what it was before, but now that I've had it in, I get it and I've stopped.
I'm doing ok with the tricks and exercises but I'm not certain at the moment that it will be enough to make me stop.

How have you found the tongue crib? Has it been ok? And what sort of effective does it have on your speech and eating?
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"A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step."

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ejs
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:25 pm
Location: Kansas City, USA

Re: The Tic Tac Trick

#8 Post by ejs »

Hi there - I see this is an old thread, but I just stumbled across it and thought I'd throw in my two cents, since I'm currently battling a tongue thrust habit myself. During my initial consult, my orthodontist told me that he would want me to see a speech therapist to work on the issue. He never suggested an appliance. For what it is worth, according to this wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongue_thrust) therapy has a better success rate than the appliances.

Over my lunch hour on the day of my initial orthodontic consult, I went online and was able to find quite a bit of information on tongue thrust and the exercises that could be used to help correct it. I immediately started working on exercises and paying attention to how I swallowed and, by the time I met with my speech therapist for my first session a few weeks later, I was able to demonstrate a correct swallow without much difficulty. That being said, I really think there is great value in seeing a speech therapist for at least a few sessions. My therapist got me working on a large number of exercises (way more than I found online) that are "re-educating" my tongue and making the proper resting posture and swallowing technique come more automatically. Also, tongue thrusters often have issues with more than just their swallow. Although it didn't cause any problems in the way my speech sounded, I found out that the way I pronounced a number of consonants (L, D, N, and especially T) incorrectly involved my tongue pushing off my teeth, rather than the roof of my mouth. If I had only corrected my swallowing technique and not also worked on my consonants, I fear I might have run into orthodontic problems again sometime down the road.

ejs

Lurking since August - this is my first post! :)
Initial consult in August. Uppers braced 10/04/2013. Lowers to follow in a few months. Sentence 24 months.
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