Tongue Thrusting and OSA

I remember my orthodontist telling me that I was a tongue thruster and that meant that when I swallow, I push my tongue against my front teeth, thus creating an overbite. He asked me to place my tongue against the roof of my mouth while swallowing and even recommended that I practice this daily. I found that uncomfortable and awkward to do and noticed that I used more of my muscles in the back of my throat to correctly swallow.
Skip forward many years and enter Sleep Apnea. I recently made the connection between tongue thrusting and OSA. It makes sense that improper swallowing over many years would relax the muscles in the throat that need to stay tight for proper air passage. I believe this also is related to mouth breathing.
So, I googled the two terms, tongue thrusting and sleep apnea and guess what I found. It seems that there is a connection. Here is a excerpt from one website.

Tongue thrusting, thumb sucking, and irregular swallowing patterns are common and often early indications that wear problems will develop. As people mature, sleep related breathing disorders are common (snoring and sleep apnea).

My question is, have you guys heard of this and is there an oral device that I can wear to help me learn to swallow correctly and thus tighten my pallette. Or, am I just barking up another wrong tree.

Hi. I'm going to google that later and read a little. Tongue thrusting was discussed some in a thread a while back. Maybe there will be something in there of interest to you.
viewtopic/t37023/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35 ... ng#p304768

I dunno about swallowing but for years I slept with my tongue half out. The sleep doctor thought it was probably a natural defense against apnea, or at least an attempt at it. I still sleep with my tongue between my teeth. I also have a nervous habit of pushing my tongue against my bottom teeth and after several years of this my teeth have indeed moved apart.

I can tell you that years ago, l had a lisp due to tongue thrusting. I went to a speech therapist, who gave me tongue exercises that cured the tongue thrust and the lisp.

At that time I had not yet been diagnosed with sleep apnea, so l can't tell you if curing the tongue thrust affected anything. My then-wife did not notice any change in my snoring, or at least did not make any comment to that effect.

Hope this helps,
Andy

Thanks,
This is all very difficult. I haven't had a good night's sleep in 20 years. I feel like I sleep in a cocoon by the time I get on my mask, tape and eye covering. I don't have to worry about burglars though. I would probably scare them.

Hi Andy,

That's interesting. I lisp - have done all my life. I'm not sure if I'm a tongue thruster, but it does seem to get in the way!

Deb

vdol52:

Tongue against roof of mouth is how I achieve a straight leak line an good CPAP therapy most of the time!!! I think RestedGal has posted on this.....

I was a tongue thruster (too much tongue compared to size of mouth). I get obstructive apneas if I sleep on my back (tongue blocking rather than throat collapsing for most if not all events).

I had braces young, so I was young when I learned to hold my tongue to mouth roof.

I have had sleep disordered breathing issues since at least puberty (based on my assesment). Snoring worsened with age and some weight.....but issues existed, again, back to puberty.

You post an interesting subject....

Might be helpful for you to try that tongue to roof position again.....

J

I believe that I have had obstructive breathing issues since childhood. I remember my doctor wanting to remove my enlarged tonsils and adenoids but my mother would not allow it.
Not sure is that would have helped the breathing but at this point I am willing to try just about anything.

vdol52 wrote:I believe that I have had obstructive breathing issues since childhood. I remember my doctor wanting to remove my enlarged tonsils and adenoids but my mother would not allow it.
Not sure is that would have helped the breathing but at this point I am willing to try just about anything.

Has an ENT seen your tonsils? Tonsils can block you airway badly, and having them removed can help in dropping your cpap pressure - do a search for tonsil* on the forum and you'll find reports.

O.