Good Tongue Posture |How Does It Affects Overall Health?

Do you know, What is a Good Tongue Posture? You don’t have to be alarmed if you don’t know about it because you are among the majority. The majority of the population doesn’t know whether there is any particular way to keep the tongue. However, it is an important factor contributing to the development of the face structure and overall health.

Even I was not aware of it until I start experiencing uncertain changes in my face structure. After researching why it is happening, I came to know about the prime factor, i.e, Good Tongue Posture. 

You must have been noticing people having a well-defined face structure that is because they possess good tongue posture naturally. However, the majority of the population has a habit of resting the tongue at the base of the mouth or pressing the tongue against the back of the front teeth.

 These bad tongue posture habits can further lead to less prominent cheek and jaw, teeth crowding, snoring, TMJ problems, and even breathing problems. So it is very much advised to correct your tongue posture as early as possible.

PROBLEMS FACED DUE TO BAD TONGUE POSTURE

The tongue is one of the strongest muscles in the body and is in connection with various body parts. It has an impact on several areas of our body, including the eyes, nose, mouth, neck, shoulders, and head. Thus having a Bad Tongue Posture can harm all the connected areas of the body. A person resting his/her tongue at the bottom of the mouth can suffer from neck, jaw, and head pain, and overall body posture.

Also, bad tongue posture degrades the face definition, making the face look longer, flatter, or cause the chin or forehead to move forward.

1. TMJ PROBLEMS

Bad tongue posture results in TMJ (temporomandibular joint). TMJ is formed of jaw bone and skull. The abnormal functioning of this joint is very common, which further results in a headache, neck pain, earache, and jaw pain.

So it is always advisable to maintain good tongue posture as it is the best position to keep the jaw muscles relaxed and prevents clicking sounds from the joints.

Also, read BEST NECK POSTURE EXERCISES | HOW TO CORRECT POSTURE?

2. SNORING AND SLEEP APNEA

Bad Tongue Posture results in narrowing of the palate, further causing breathing problems. It also causes contraction of the maxilla, which is connected to the nasal bone, resulting in narrowing of side to side distance of the nose causing snoring and sleep apnea.

3. MOUTH BREATHING

Bad Tongue posture often leads to mouth breathing and vice versa. Mouth Breathing can lead to uncertain development of facial bones, which further results in flat features, narrow jaw, drooping eyes, dental arch, and a small chin.

4. EYE PROBLEMS

Maxilla and eyes are very much related to each other. Angie Lehman, RDH, COM says, “The eyes are the window to the health of your upper airway,” or perhaps “The eyes are the window to your underdeveloped maxilla.” The eyes can tell us a lot about the health of the person before we look inside their mouths. Thus we can say good tongue posture can have a great impact on our eye health. Bad tongue posture can also lead to vision problems.

5. IMPROPER SWALLOWING

Bad Tongue Posture can result in tongue-thrusting, which can affect the shape of your teeth and jaw. Tongue thrusting is the movement of the tongue in a forward and downward direction while swallowing food rather than upwards and backward like a wave.

6. BAD BODY POSTURE

Both tongue posture and body posture go hand in hand, it is not possible to possess one individually. If your tongue posture is not correct, it will badly influence your body posture and vice versa. As mentioned above, our tongue posture has an impact on our head, neck, shoulders, and jaw, which further contribute to good body posture. This misbalancing between the two can have a bad impact on our overall health. Therefore, it is advisable to start working on your tongue and body posture from today onwards.

7. IMPROPER TEETH ALIGNMENT

When the tongue is pressed against the back of the front teeth, it causes pressure on the front teeth, which results in any problems related to teeth alignment with time.

WHAT IS GOOD TONGUE POSTURE?

Good tongue posture is the proper placement of the tongue during the resting position. The ideal tongue posture involves resting the tongue against the roof of your mouth, making a gap of about half an inch away from the back of the front teeth.

Steps involve achieving Good tongue posture while resting-

• The resting position of the tongue should be against the roof of the mouth.
• The distance between the tongue and the back of the front teeth should be half an inch.
• The lips should be closed, and your teeth should rest slightly apart.

Note- Do not press your tongue against the back of your teeth, as this can result in many problems related to misalignment of teeth over time.

EXERCISES YOU CAN PERFORM TO FIND YOUR IDEAL TONGUE POSTURE

Finding an ideal tongue posture can be difficult initially. Here are the exercises that you can perform to find and maintain a Good Tongue Posture.

1. SLIDE

• Place the tip of your tongue at the back of your front teeth
• Now using suction, slide the tongue back against the roof of the mouth
• As you slide your tongue backward, you will feel a spot where your mouth slopes upwards
• The area right before that spot is the ideal position for Good Tongue posture.

2. SMILE

• Smile wide with your upper teeth visible
• Further, try to swallow, maintaining the slight gap between your teeth
• You will feel your tongue automatically reach the roof of your mouth, which is the ideal position for Good Tongue Posture.

BOTTOM LINE

Proper tongue posture can help in widening the palate. Though there has been no research that suggests it can help in changing an adult’s face structure, there are many people who have got great results with the practice of good tongue posture. However, like any habit tongue posture won’t change over time, so you need to have patience and keep on practicing until you maintain a Good Tongue Posture.

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