Have you ever wondered what a tongue thrust is? Well, we are here to shed some light on it. Basically it is an infantile or reverse swallow pattern. In the adult swallow pattern the tip of the tongue goes to the roof of your mouth and the body of your tongue carries the food or saliva to the back of your mouth and it goes down your throat. in the reverse swallow the tongue pushes forward against or between the teeth. The is the swallow pattern babies are born with. It is a protective technique to prevent choking. Babies are genius! But this pattern should change to the adult swallow pattern sometime in the first year of life. However, some kids don’t outgrow this and it persists into adulthood.
Tongue thrust can cause problems with your teeth by pushing them out of alignment. Did you know that you swallow approximately 2000 times a day? And the tongue, being one of the strongest muscles in your body, exerts around 4 pounds of pressure each time you swallow. Imagine what that will do if your tongue is pushing against your teeth.