Difficulty Habituating Lips Closed Posture
I’m asking about whether or not to start therapy because of the difficulty habituating lips closed posture with incisors tipped lingually. I have not yet seen him, but based on former clients, habituation didn’t occur until the incisors were better aligned and the lip strain was eliminated. It sounds like you sometimes work with a student until they can pass exam #1 and then put them on a break until other factors are addressed (maturity, burn out, etc.) Do you find they maintain their exam #1 skills over this period?
Hi K, If the lips can’t close with ease or with very little effort because of the occlusion, then I would maximize prof exam #1 and maybe see him on occasion to be certain all is maintained. Being that the full focus will be on the tongue at this point, you have a great opportunity to give him a few selected exercises and expect superb results. I’d probably try to see him twice weekly in this case or the following can occur: He practices well the minimal exercises you give him…and he is ready to move on in a few days. Waiting a full week could be counter-productive; he’ll become bored and disillusioned…
- OR if he practices incorrectly, it’s embedded for an entire week into his little head and you can’t catch it early.
- Another possibility is that he misses a session and now he’s been two weeks practicing only one or two exercises..not good.
For the prof exam, I usually don’t tell the patient how many times to practice. I tell them that they have to demonstrate X number of times, usually 10, to me the next session and it must be perfectly executed. Then they actually practice MORE than if I decided some arbitrary number of times is suitable for a given person. This is not so for other types of exercises, such as for the lips; in that case, I measure about once every two sessions and give exercises according to how their particular body responds to the number of exercises completed daily. Hope this is helpful, Sandra