THE TONGUE AND ITS IMPORTANCE

21 octubre

Para poder realizar este trabajo hemos usado el motor de búsqueda “Pubmed” y hemos
recopilado información de 4 artículos acordes a nuestro tema. Las palabras claves usadas
han sido: “Tongue posture”, “Resting tongue position” y “Tongue posture AND
malocclusion”.

ABSTRACT:

● BACKGROUND:

The tongue is a muscle that serves purposeful and precise motor tasks like eating,
drinking and speaking; but the resting tongue position affects the surrounding
structures and may result in altered arch form and jaw relationship.

● OBJECTIVES:

To show and evaluate the available evidence regarding tongue thrusting as the
responsible for the development of a malocclusion.

● METHODS:

1. The study was conducted on pretreatment lateral cephalograms and dental

casts of 90 subjects. Subjects were equally divided into three groups, based
on sagittal jaw relationship (Class I, II and III). Tongue posture was
determined according to the method described by Graber et al in 1997. The
arch widths (intercanine and intermolar widths) were evaluated on
pretreatment dental casts.

2. In the second article we will talk about the rapid maxillary expansion in
children with mouth breathing. A total of 39 prepubertal mouth breathing
subjects with posterior crossbite (mean age 8.5 years) have been studied.

3. This cross-sectional study was performed using a database of an

epidemiological survey realized in the southern of Brazil, in 2015, for
evaluating the dental and myofunctional condition of the mixed-dentition from
7-13 years' schoolchildren. The outcome variables were tongue position and
speech distortion, evaluated by a trained and calibrated examiner.
Characteristics regarding sociodemographic and oral health measures
(Angle's classification of the malocclusion, overjet, overbite, posterior
crossbite and respiratory mode) were also assessed. Poisson regression
models with adjusted robust variance were used to evaluate the association
among predictors variables in the outcomes. Results are presented as
prevalence ratio (PR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
 4. Forty subjects with tongue-thrust swallowing in the age group of 7-16 years
were examined. Of these 20 had normal anterior bite while rest had anterior
open bite. A word articulation test was used and word level articulation testing
was done for initial, medial and final positions. The sounds tested were:
Linguoalveolars, Labiodentals, Linguodentals, Linguopalatals, Bilabials and
Linguovelars.

● RESULTS:

1. Tongue-to-paddle distances were found to be comparable between. the

different study groups.
There were also significant differences in the intercanine and intermolar
widths at the cuspal and gingival levels between the study groups, with the
exception of the intercanine width at the cuspal level in the maxilla and the
intermolar width at the cuspal level in the mandible.
and a moderate positive correlation between arch width ratios at distances 3
and 4 in the Class III skeletal group. The effect size was found to be
moderate to large across different sagittal skeletal patterns and arch widths.

2. After the treatment, the dorsum of tongue moved closer to the palatine vault,
the position of the hyoid bone did not undergo significant variations and the
respiratory pattern clinically improved in 64% of subjects.

3. A total of 547 children were evaluated. Schoolchildren who presented anterior

open bite (PR 2.36 95%CI 1.59-3.49) and having oral/oral-nasal breathing
(RP 2.51 95%CI 1.70-3.71) are more likely to have altered position of the
tongue. Both deep bite and being male represent protection factors for the
abnormal tongue position. Regarding speech distortion, deep overbite
presents a protective relationship to speech distortion (PR 0.41; 95%CI 0.24-
0.71), whereas schoolchildren with posterior crossbite were more likely to
present this problem (PR 1.77; 95%CI 1.09-2.88).

4. The results of the study have indicated that the presence of articulation
disorders is strongly associated with the anterior open bite present in tongue-
thrust swallowers but a simple, direct relationship between the presence of
defective consonant sounds and tongue-thrust swallowing has not been
found.

● CONCLUSION:

As long as we're not talking, eating or drinking we should rest the tongue (from the back to
the tip) on the roof of our mouth to avoid alterations in the maxillary, speech disorders and
open bite.
REFERENCIAS:

1. Fatima F, Fida M. The assessment of resting tongue posture in different sagittal

skeletal patterns. Dental Press J Orthod. 2019 Aug 1;24(3):55-63. doi: 10.1590/2177-
6709.24.3.055-063.oar. PMID: 31390450; PMCID: PMC6677336.

2. D'Alessandro G, Bagattoni S, Montevecchi M, Piana G. Rapid maxillary expansion

on oral breathing children: effects on tongue location, hyoid position and breathing. A
pilot study. Minerva Dent Oral Ssci. 2021 Jun;70(3):97-102. doi: 10.23736/S2724-
6329.21.04290-4. PMID: 34124873.

3. D'Alessandro G, Bagattoni S, Montevecchi M, Piana G. Rapid maxillary expansion

on oral breathing children: effects on tongue location, hyoid position and breathing. A
pilot study. Minerva Dent Oral Ssci. 2021 Jun;70(3):97-102.oi: 10.1590/1678-7757-
2020-1005. PMID: 34406316; PMCID: PMC8373205.

4. Khinda V, Grewal N. Relationship of tongue-thrust swallowing and anterior open bite

with articulation disorders: a clinical study. J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent. 1999
Jun;17(2):33-9. PMID: 10863488.

1-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31390450/
2-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34124873/
3-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34406316/
4-https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10863488/

LUCA,NICOLE