Tongue Posture in Young Children
December 17, 2022
In this brief lecture clip, Dr. Rebecca Bockow warns about the early childhood habits that may contribute to improper jaw development and dental crossbite. Habits to watch out for include persistent mouth breathing and excessive use of pouches or straws at a very young age.
Dr. Rebecca Bockow is a dual-trained board-certified orthodontist and periodontist – one of only a handful in the country. She lectures nationally on periodontics, orthodontics, interdisciplinary orthodontics, airway, and skeletal growth and development.
“If for some reason, we have a child with a low tongue posture, we might end up with a clinical situation that looks like this with a dental crossbite. We may, however, also have a situation like this if we have a child that maybe has a history of mouth breathing or using things like pouches in excess at a very young age or straws.
“We're going to have more pressure from the cheeks this way, less pressure from the tongue this way, and we're going to see a convergence of the upper and lower arches. Clinically that might look like this, where we have the lower teeth rolled in, and we don't necessarily have a clinical crossbite, but we still have a narrowing of both arches and a low tongue posture.
“So, looking for reasons why there might be excess cheek pressure or a history of mouth breathing, or a lack of tongue pressure from the inside.
Dr. Bockow loves to create beautiful smiles for her patients, setting them up for a lifetime of dental and airway health.
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