Abstract
Immature tongue function so-called “tongue-thrust or infantile and teeth apart swallow” and its rehabilitation involves multiple specialities in dentistry (pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, management of temporomandibular disorders, periodontics,…). Fifty years ago Mrs Fournier described a tongue rehabilitation technique. Given the difficulty to find a physiotherapist able to practice such a therapeutic, the aim of this article is to describe this therapeutic so that non-physiotherapists practitioners be able to initiate it and to teach it to their patients, at least for simple cases. It includes corrections of tongue immaturity, tongue resting position, deglutition and phonation. These changes might involve adaptive cortical neuroplasticity. Indeed these last years it has been shown in humans that standardised and calibrated tongue lift or protrusion exercises induce such plasticity in the tongue motor cortex.
Highlights
The rehabilitation of tongue dysfunctions concerns many disciplines11:– pedodontics, orthodontics, and orthognathic surgery for the treatment of dysmorphosis– ENT for the treatment of pathologies associated with dysmorphosis and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome– the management of dysfunction of the masticatory apparatus,– periodontology[5].The article “tongue dysfunction screening: assessment protocol for prescribers”[11] was written to highlight tongue dyspraxia dyspraxia and associated d isorders
Rehabilitation technique developed by Maryvonne Fournier is already 50 years old, it remains poorly understood
Neuroscience will perhaps become clearer (phenomena of neuronal plasticity, modification of motor controls, and neuromuscular recruitment) and make it possible to understand why sometimes, despite the exercises, this method does not always work
Summary
The rehabilitation of tongue dysfunctions concerns many disciplines11:– pedodontics, orthodontics, and orthognathic surgery for the treatment of dysmorphosis– ENT for the treatment of pathologies associated with dysmorphosis and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome– the management of dysfunction of the masticatory apparatus,– periodontology (aggravation of dental migrations by tongue dysfunctions)[5].The article “tongue dysfunction screening: assessment protocol for prescribers”[11] was written to highlight tongue dyspraxia dyspraxia and associated d isorders. The rehabilitation of tongue dysfunctions concerns many disciplines11:. – pedodontics, orthodontics, and orthognathic surgery for the treatment of dysmorphosis. – ENT for the treatment of pathologies associated with dysmorphosis and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. – the management of dysfunction of the masticatory apparatus,. – periodontology (aggravation of dental migrations by tongue dysfunctions)[5]. The article “tongue dysfunction screening: assessment protocol for prescribers”[11] was written to highlight tongue dyspraxia dyspraxia and associated d isorders. License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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