Orthodontics/orthopaedics/orthotropics: Orthodontics specifically deals with the misalignment of teeth. For this treatment, the clinician would use braces to fix a bad bite by straightening crooked, crowded or gapped teeth. Orthopaedic treatment, in contrast, improves the skeletal structure of your face and jaw. Orthotropics is a philosophy and therapy focused on proper and harmonious facial development. For the sake of harmony, let’s call it all ortho.
Correct tongue function is necessary in order that future braces will work with the tongue acting like a natural retainer for the top jaw and reduce the likelihood of aggressive ortho treatment and relapse. By working on your musculature of the mouth you will be working with your ortho appliances, not against them. Working with the client we enable the tongue to elevate to the roof of the mouth as it naturally should do. Chewing, swallowing and breathing are all focused on as each requires good muscle function and range of motion. It takes time but can be done non-invasively and at the clients pace. Having any ortho should not be about a ‘pretty smile’ but about mouth being able to function well for many years to come.
If your clinician talks about ‘Tongue Thrust’, I’m the person to help you. I will set you up with a programme of challenges that change every 2-3 weeks, depending on the client’s compliance and consistency, and changes can be seen gradually. These changes in your tongue, lips and cheeks will mean the tongue thrust disappears, and your ortho can begin.
