SIGN IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO HAVE ACCESS TO DIFFERENT FEATURES

FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD?

FORGOT YOUR DETAILS?

AAH, WAIT, I REMEMBER NOW!

Orofacial Myology

Helping Speech Pathologists and Dental Professionals with training, services and products.

954-461-1114
Email: info@orofacialmyology.info

Neo-Health Services, Inc.
Morrisville NC 27560

CALL US: 954 461 1114
  • LOGIN
  • HOME
  • Myo Info
  • Myo Training
  • Myo Products
  • Myo Therapists
  • Myo Videos
  • Qualification (QOM)
  • About Us
    • Sandra R. Holtzman
    • Becky Ellsworth
    • Karen Wuertz
    • Zohara Nguyen
    • Jamesa Treadwell
    • Carma Stump
    • Mackenzi Coker
    • Greta Vigil
  • MY CART
    No products in cart.

Help for specific questions

Monday, 20 August 2012 / Published in Dental Hygienist, Dentists, Orofacial Myologist, Parents, speech languge pathologist, Therapists, Uncategorized

Help for specific questions

How to Handle Certain Situations: 1. You are meeting tomorrow with an orthodontist who refers patients to you.  The most recent referral arrived for your orofacial myology examination wearing a tongue guard.  What can you say to the very adamant orthodontist who strongly believes in the tongue guard even if therapy cannot be initiated with it in place.

1) The tongue guard does not serve to teach a normal rest position for the tongue – which is the main goal.  2) While a tongue thrust can be temporarily discouraged with a tongue guard, kids can push their tongue forward under the guard – and quickly learn to do so. Direct the orthodontist to the position paper about appliances for habit problems.   https://orofacialmyology.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/orofacial-myology-position-statement-regarding-appliance-use-for-oral-habit-patterns.pdf  3) And most important, the tongue guard encourages the freeway space to be opened beyond the normal range. This is the opposite of what we want since a freeway space open beyond the normal range leads to continued eruption of posterior teeth and an opening of the bite anteriorly. 4) Also, orofacial myology can correct problems without an appliance and you are within your rights to insist that the guard be removed or else you cannot establish a proper rest posture of the tongue and retrain the tongue during swallows. 2. Palatal expander.   An orthodontist recommended a palatal expansion after myofunctional therapy for an 8 year old. You explained that the palatal expansion should take place before orofacial myology treatment.  The orthodontist said she felt that therapy should go first so the tongue would widen the palate. Will the tongue  widen that palate at 8 years of age? Can you help me to understand why the tongue is not going to widen it. Is it because of the patient’s age? Is there an age at which the tongue will naturally widen a narrow palate?  Actually, no. The palate naturally widens by a process of apposition (adding) bone on the oral surface and resorbing bone on the nasal surface of the palate. You can mention the work of Enlow and Hans here whose book Essentials of Facial Growth. The role of the tongue at rest is useful but not a major contributor. Expecting the tongue to naturally widen the palate at any age, especially 8, is not a reasonable goal. The point is that if the orthodontist can widen the palate and then allow you to adapt the tongue rest posture and functions to that expanded position, this is the recommended protocol; the house needs to be fixed before the tongue can properly function in the environment in which it resides. With a narrow palate, the tongue is encouraged to thrust forward at rest and during function to adapt to the narrow maxilla. Here again, I would decline treating this kid if OMT is mandated by the orthodontist first. 3. Slide: I have a slide of a very narrow palate. Would this better be filed under my section on ‘consequences’ or under the section for ’causes’ of OMDs?   A narrow palate can be either 4. Tongue guards –   I looked in the literature and could not find any articles to tell me why orthodontists use these. Is it because they believe it is the best way to close the bite? Do they feel it is a more convenient and easy way to address open bites? Why do they opt for this….is it based on research and training?  Orthodontists and other dentists use such appliances because they do not know any different — and it up to the therapist to educate them to the advantages of therapy and the disadvantages of appliance use. There are studies they cite – Greg Huang and colleagues at the University of Washington; however, such studies do not report on the characteristics of patients being treated with appliances (such as the status of the airway)  nor whether they have an anterior rest posture. They only focus on the thrusting, and show no data about whether the habit returns following the cessation of appliance use. You should point out that, with good intentions, orthodontists focus on tongue thrusting rather than rest posture, and few even note if there is a forward rest posture of the tongue when they do record that a thrust is there. This can be your primary message here — the importance of the rest posture and that thrusting itself does not move teeth, as eloquently reported by Proffit and colleagues in many oral transducer studies (and the references are all on the For Dentists and Physicians document on the website https://orofacialmyology.com/files/FOR_DENTISTS_AND_PHYSICIANS.pdf   — as is the position statement on appliance use. Anytime you get stuck, just refer to that article and position statement — written by an orthodontist who has studied such issues and written more than anyone else. Dr. Robert Mason    

Tagged under: Essentials of Facial Growth, freeway space, orofacial myology examination, palatal expander, tongue guard, tongue thrust

What you can read next

RDH how to become an insurance provider
Neuromuscular Facilitation
Rapid Palatal Expander so wait or not for tx

Search

Archives

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • May 2021
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • May 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010

Recent Posts

  • The McGurk Effect Game

    ...
  • orofacial-myology-jaw-deviation-and-speech

    jaw deviation and speech problems

    Does jaw deviation cause speech problems or vic...
  • orofacial-myology-overactive-mentalis

    overactive mentalis

    I’m trying to think of what exercises could hel...
  • HOME
  • Myo Info
  • Myo Training
  • Myo Products
  • Myo Therapists
  • Myo Videos
  • Qualification (QOM)
  • About Us
    • Sandra R. Holtzman
    • Becky Ellsworth
    • Karen Wuertz
    • Zohara Nguyen
    • Jamesa Treadwell
    • Carma Stump
    • Mackenzi Coker
    • Greta Vigil
  • GET SOCIAL
Orofacial Myology

© 2017 NEO-Health Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

TOP