I Corrected my Tongue Thrust - Without Speech Therapy

A tongue thrust is basically poor tongue posture which causes you to push your tongue against the inside of your teeth instead of up on the roof of your mouth. Everyone is born with a tongue thrust and almost everyone learned proper tongue posture on their own, without any assistance. Tongue thrusters do not. A common result of this is an anterior open bite where none of the anterior teeth meet and an opened appears.

This was my anterior open bite prior to double jaw surgery and prior to decompensation. It wasn't nearly as bad as I had braces at a younger age to attempt to fix the bite. With no attempt to fix the tongue thrust I just kept tongue thrusting and ended up relapsing to the point I was developing sleep apnea and TMJ disorder. I also had speech issues, chewing issues, mouth breathing, and other things that were out of the norm.

I believe two things fixed my tongue thrust.

1. Persistence to fix my tongue posture: I didn't go to speech therapy during this process, but I researched tongue thrust correction and used many youtube videos to help learn ways to correct my tongue thrust. It was very annoying, and at first you will start thrusting the second you stop thinking about it. Be persistent. It is a very difficult habit to break. 
2. Jaw surgery: When I had my jaw surgery I had both jaws moved and my chin moved. It was a big surgery to go through with a very tough recovery. I also had cysts removed from my nasal airway. Being able to breathe properly through my nose was a huge factor in correcting my tongue posture as it allowed me to keep my tongue at the top of my mouth while using my nose to breathe. 

I know a lot of people have relapsed after having jaw surgery for an anterior open bite. I had my surgery over two years ago and so far my bite as remained the same as it was post op. I will always try to be aware of my tongue posture and one day I will see a speech therapist to assure I am doing everything I can to avoid a relapse.

This is my bite post op:

Terra