The Habit-Corrector® for Tongue Thrusting

The Habit-Corrector® is a soft plastic removable one-size- fits-all appliance serving children’s dentistry needs. The Habit-Corrector® is designed to eliminate or improve bad oral habits such as tongue thrusting. These habits can be detrimental to overall dental health and the occlusion. The Habit-Corrector® comes in two types, an open and a closed version. In the open version, the upper and lower arches are separated in the front and are hinged in the back. This open-type appliance is used initially for mouth breathers and is gradually replaced with the closed version as the patient becomes accustomed to the appliances.

After about 2 months the patient should wear the closed version during the day and after about one more month should wear the closed one also while sleeping. The closed version forces the patient to breathe through his or her nose. For those patients who normally breathe through their nose, the closed version is worn from the start of their treatment. The Habit-Corrector® is worn passively two hours a day and night to provide the patient with 720 normal swallows: eliminating bad habits like tongue thrusting, and reinforcing proper swallowing.

Among these bad habits are:

• Improper tongue positions during rest and swallowing, such as tongue thrusting.
• Thumb and finger sucking.
• Nighttime mouth breathing.

Any one of all or these habits can cause open-bites, excessive overjets and flared upper teeth. These problems can best be corrected in young children under 12 years of age, before these habits become entrenched.

Overjets without an overbite are usually also an indication of the presence of abnormal tongue posture requiring correction.

There can also be other accompanying problems directly related to poor tongue posture such as mouth breathing, upper arch constriction, cross-bites, and speech problems. Most of these problems arise as result of adverse forces that the tongue applies against the dentition when it functions abnormally. The Habit-Corrector® consists of a shelf to elevate the tongue, in order to allow the patient to swallow normally.

Patients can choose which protective case they would like for their appliance. Choose from a monkey, an alligator, a dog, or a cat.