Tongue Crib

I never sucked my thumb. I didn't suck on my fingers. I have always been aware to never chew my nails, to floss and brush daily, etc. And what do I get from all of this dental care?

My grill. A new diet. A roof ring. Backwards tongue retainer. Lisp creator.


Call it what you want. I have a new "tongue crib."

This is a picture of a tongue crib, looking at the roof of the mouth. "For our patients that thrust their tongue in a forward position, this appliance quickly redirects the tongue to a more normal swallowing position.The appliance is glued in place and will usually stop the habit in the first couple of months. However, we will need to keep the appliance in place until the permanent front teeth overlap each other." For me, the ortho said ONE FULL YEAR!!!
For the last 15 years, after getting my braces off, I have had a tongue thrust. The result? My teeth have slowly been pushing forward. Every time I swallow or when I am sleeping, my tongue is in the "resting" position. I have been well aware of my teeth protruding, and although they are straight, I do not like the way that they look. It is a cosmetic issue, but one that I wanted to fix.

I headed out to the ortho where he told me of this tongue crib that could help it out. No problem, I thought to myself. It was put in three days ago. When he first put it in , I thought I was going to gag nonstop. It feels like your tongue has been cut into two. You can't bring it forward unless your entire mouth is open wide.

I have not eaten in three days, my speech sounds like Austin Powers with a stronger lisp, I can't pronounce ANY decent Spanish words with a rolled R, and I wake up with the worse breath in the morning b/c of this retainer.

I am going to have to go in this week and get the removal kind. I feel very insecure when talking to strangers (they look at me like I am abnormal with a speech impediment), my appetite has decreased b/c it hurts to crunch on those back molars, (not to mention that I can't move my tongue to push the food around, thus the food gets stuck in the metal brackets), and more than anything....I can't communicate the way I need to!

I will always have empathy for those people who have speech, eating, or self esteem problems, b/c now I have them too.