Unveiling the Hidden Impact on Your Health and Well-Being
Tongue tie, often considered a condition affecting only infants, is a surprisingly common issue among adults. If you’ve been searching for answers to unexplained health issues like snoring, airway difficulties, dental problems, or pelvic floor issues, tongue tie in adults might be the missing piece.
Understanding Tongue Tie in Adults
Tongue tie, or ankyloglossia, occurs when the tissue connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth is too short or tight. This restriction limits the tongue’s mobility, leading to a host of complications.
What is this tissue? Let’s take a look at it more closely.
Often referred to as a frenulum or frena, it is a fibro-mucosal fold of tissue that helps to connect bone to soft tissue, and it will either support or limit the movement of the muscles around it.
As we develop in utero there should be a 25% dissociation of the frena from connecting structure at around the 18th week of life. When this does not occur, the frenulum is tied or tethered.
Can we stretch it through exercise? Well, we learned from Martinelli, Marchesan, Gusmao, Rodrigues & Berratin-Felix (2014) that frena are “collagen fibers that cannot be stretched”.
With this knowledge, the need for surgical release becomes a primary solution.
While tongue tie is often diagnosed and treated in infancy, many of us reach adulthood undiagnosed, suffering from various symptoms without understanding the root cause.
Controversies among professionals in Dentistry, ENT, and Speech therapy fields lead parents of young children to question if releases are truly necessary or just a fad.
This often results in parents opting out of the procedure. Now we have Tongue tie in adults becoming wider in occurrence and the need for appropriate adult services is rising.
To perform your own self-check at home grab this FREE GUIDE to help you assess your tongue tie in adults.
Airway Difficulties and Snoring When You Are an Adult with Tongue Tie
One of the most significant issues caused by tongue ties in adults is airway obstruction. The restricted tongue can fall back into the throat during sleep, blocking the airway and causing snoring or even worse sleep apnea.
A tongue-tied adult has not had the tongue in its ideal resting place, up in the palate or roof of the mouth, this is the tongue’s happy place.
Rather, the tongue sits low in the mouth closer to the floor and pushes out against the front teeth. Some tongue-tied adults notice they have scalloped tongues due to this low resting posture.
The compression and pressure system that the tongue generates when in the palate allows the nasal passages to breathe more easily and for the throat to remain open for adequate nasal breathing.
Achieving tongue resting posture in the palate is one of the main goals of therapy with the desired outcome of improved airway for energy, focus, and sleep quality.
If you or your partner have been struggling with loud, disruptive snoring or waking up gasping for air, tongue tie could be a contributing factor.
Impact on Sleep Quality:
Frequent awakenings: Due to the airway being blocked, you may wake up multiple times during the night, preventing deep, restorative sleep.
Daytime fatigue: Poor sleep quality can lead to constant tiredness, irritability, and difficulty concentrating during the day.
Low energy is a frequent complaint of adults with tongue tie. Restorative sleep is crucial to regaining your daytime energy, focus, attention to task, and agreeableness.
Dry lips? Tongue tie in adults leads to open mouth posture when awake and asleep. When breathing through the mouth the lips become dry with the constant passing of air.
Dental Issues and the Role of Braces for an Adult with Tongue Tie
Tongue tie in adults can also affect your dental health. The tongue plays a crucial role in oral hygiene and dental alignment. A restricted tongue can lead to various dental issues, including:
Crowded or Misaligned Teeth
The tongue helps guide the development and positioning of teeth. A restricted tongue can contribute to dental crowding or misalignment, often necessitating braces.
Many adults with tongue ties report multiple rounds of braces in their lifetime. Some report questioning their orthodontists regarding the impact of ties on their dentition. But typically, little to no intervention is suggested for the tongue tie by orthodontists.
Though braces will straighten out the teeth and correct the bite, they do not address the underlying issue that caused the teeth to move out of alignment. Once the appliance, braces, is removed, the teeth may migrate out of position again due to the tethered tie placing force incorrectly.
Gum Recession and Tooth Decay
Gum recession and tooth decay can be linked to poor tongue mobility. Limited tongue movement can make it difficult to clean the teeth and gums properly, increasing the risk of gum disease and cavities.
Vaulted Palates
Vaulted palates are the result of a tongue resting low on the floor of the mouth. Creating a narrow dental arch, leaving less room for your teeth. It’s not uncommon for adults to report having more than one tooth pulled to make room in the mouth.
Palatal expanders often go hand in hand with braces as appliances are used to create space in the palate. It has been said that the tongue is your natural palate expander! But if it lives its whole life down on the floor of your mouth it cannot do its job of creating space in the palate.
Bruxism
Bruxism, also known as grinding of the teeth, is linked to tongue tie. There is a hierarchy in our development. The jaw is the base of support for the oral facial muscles.
When the muscles, such as the tongue, need support the jaw will work harder to support and provide compensation of movement that the muscle itself cannot generate.
Particularly when asleep, the jaw will work to push open the airway by getting the tongue to move. This sliding and gliding of the jaw to facilitate the tongue upward creates the grinding of the teeth.
Though mouth guards prescribed for grinding will protect the teeth from breaking down they do little to address the root cause of why you are grinding to begin with.
The Surprising Link to Pelvic Floor Issues in Tongue Tied Adults
You might be surprised to learn that tongue ties in adults can also be linked to pelvic floor issues. The body’s muscular and fascia system is interconnected, and restrictions in one area can affect others.
Tongue tie can lead to poor posture, muscle tension, and restricted fascia, which can, in turn, contribute to pelvic floor dysfunction.
Symptoms of Pelvic Floor Dysfunction:
Incontinence: Difficulty controlling bladder or bowel movements.
Pelvic pain: Chronic discomfort or pain in the pelvic region.
Sexual dysfunction: Issues with sexual function or satisfaction.
A pelvic floor therapist is the go-to for these issues. But adding in an experienced myofunctional therapist may be the one-two punch you need to kick pelvic floor issues to the curb.
Identifying tongue tie in adults who regularly need pelvic floor work can lead to more comprehensive outcomes.
Understanding that you may have had issues with your pelvic floor long before you identified them as an older adult is one step in treatment.
Understanding that they may have been significantly impacted by restricted fascia in your mouth is an even bigger step in successful treatment.
The Comprehensive Solution: Oral Motor Exercise Protocol For Adults with Tongue Tie
Addressing tongue tie in adults requires a holistic approach. An oral motor exercise protocol, also known as myofunctional therapy, is designed to improve tongue strength and mobility, offering a natural, sustainable solution to the problems caused by tongue tie. Here’s how a myofunctional program can help:
Personalized Exercises
Programs include targeted exercises to strengthen the tongue and improve its range of motion, strength, and coordination. These exercises are easy to follow and can be done at home, offering a practical solution for adults with tongue ties.
Working with a trained myo-functional therapist who will develop your plan, set up the home program, monitor your progress, make appropriate adjustments to your plan, and guide your healing is highly recommended.
Lifting tongue to touch behind the upper teeth then lowering the tongue to touch behind bottom teeth
Improved Airway Function:
By enhancing tongue mobility within a myo-functional program, along with soft palate elevation exercises, can help keep the airway open during sleep, reducing snoring and the risk of sleep apnea. Better sleep quality means more energy, better mood, and improved overall health.
One of the key tongue placements to learn is that of the tongue to the palate/roof of the mouth. While at rest with mouth closed, the tongue should naturally rest up in the palate.
Achieving this during daytime waking hours can lead to more success with tongue placement during sleeping hours.
Enhanced Dental Health:
Strengthening the tongue can improve oral hygiene, reducing the risk of gum disease and tooth decay.
With proper muscle alignment it is easier to reach the back molars with a toothbrush, thereby cleaning them more effectively.
For those with braces, proper tongue function can support dental alignment through pressure and compression into the palate and improve the effectiveness of orthodontic treatment.
Pelvic Floor Support:
By addressing the root cause of muscle/ fascia tension and restrictions, myofunctional exercises can alleviate some symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction. Improved posture and reduced muscle/fascia tension can lead to better pelvic health and overall well-being.
Often our body will borrow or recruit from other areas to support weak areas. Adults who have had their ties released report improvement with core exercises prescribed for pelvic floor improvement.
The oral release of the tie frees the fascia system up to move more harmoniously throughout the entire body.
Take the First Step Towards Better Health
If you’ve been dealing with unexplained health issues like snoring, airway difficulties, dental problems, or pelvic floor dysfunction, it might be time to consider tongue tie as a potential cause. Oral motor/Myofunctional exercise protocol offers a natural, effective solution to improve your health and quality of life.
Contact us today to learn more about our program and start your journey towards better sleep, improved dental health, and overall well-being. Check out more blog articles HERE.
Remember, addressing tongue ties as an adult can have far-reaching benefits, transforming your nights, your daytime alertness, your mood, and essentially your entire life.