Can Changing Tongue Position Make People More Attractive?

Too much fun on cunning tongues and how a health remedy might not be what it appears.

This post appears courtesy of Undark Magazine.

Tongue Posture Is a Big Business With Little Evidence

Treatments to address improper tongue position have been hyped as a health remedy, but they may be doing more harm than good.

By Christina Szalinski and Undark

The Atlantic

 

Insert "...The idea that tongue position can contribute to health problems is not well-supported by research, but it’s edging towards the mainstream.

Millions of people are watching YouTube videos about how the tongue allegedly influences the face and jaw, and books, videos, websites, and social-media posts say that improper tongue position can contribute to a host of health issues—dental problems, sleep apnea, headaches, neck and back pain, and more. These ideas are especially becoming popular in dentistry—echoed by Colgate and a dental hygienists’ magazine. Some even claim that changing the tongue position can make people more attractive.

Two proposed solutions to help with an allegedly poor tongue posture are becoming more popular, which may be done together or separately.

The first is myofunctional therapy, a series of exercises to strengthen the tongue so that it can rest on the roof of the mouth. Celebrities, including Kourtney Kardashian, are promoting this therapy.

The second is surgery on what some practitioners call a “tongue-tie”—a condition in which the tissue under the tongue, called the frenulum, is supposedly restricted. . .

Despite the limited evidence, myofunctional therapy and tongue-tie surgeries are often promoted as a treatment for the many ailments attributed to poor tongue posture in adults...Many doctors, however, caution against the idea that changing tongue posture is a panacea. . .

To be sure, some patients say that tongue surgery and therapy has been life changing. In an invite-only Facebook group for tongue-tied adults, which has more than 15,000 members, some advocates report improvements in everything from facial composition to migraines, neck tension, anxiety, and even bowel movements. But not everyone has a positive experience . .

And dentists who revise adult tongue-ties can charge up to about $1,500 for the procedure. “I do not want to suggest ulterior motives,” Kezirian wrote in an email, “but of course treatment is offered to patients that pay for services, often on their own because these treatments are not covered by medical insurance.”