Tongue and Posture

Abstract

F. MARQUET. Before beginning I should like to thank you for agreeing to make a contribution to this issue devoted to posturology. In addition to tongue posture, a subject to which we’ll return later, what are the principal postural problems that should be considered in orthodontics? Maryvonne FOURNIER. The head hanging down in a forward position is one of the poor postures that are frequently encountered. It is associated with painful points in the occipital crest and sometimes prevents correction of breathing difficulties and problems with the tempero-mandibular joint. Mandibular deviations with which scoliosis, or a scoliatic tendency, are frequently associated with or without tendency to favor putting weight on one foot. Flat feet with disappearance of the inner arch of the foot, with weight placed purely on the posterior part of the foot in certain dental and skeletal Class III cases and exclusively on the anterior part of the foot in certain Class II dental and skeletal cases. F.M. You’re saying that poor weight distribution on the feet can cause dental or skeletal malformations? M.F. When too much weight is placed on the back f the foot, the child is always leaning backward, so much so that if we ask them to lean on the front part of the foot they might break their face and we need to place ourselves well in front of them to catch them if need be. In 50% of Class III cases we are going to find that in addition to this posterior weight distribution there is a recurvatum of the knees and a smoothing out of the lumbar, dorsal, and cervical curvatures. But, on the contrary, in Class II cases where patients place more weight on the front part of the foot there will be a flexum of the knee and an increase in the spinal curvatures. The patients whose thoracic cage tends to be caved in and under-developed usually have Class II Division 1 malocclsions and are mouth breathers. I cannot say that this type of poor development inevitably leads to dento-facial malformation. Some lateral mandibular deviations cause no postural problems whatever.