tooth gap from tongue thrust - retainer with tongue crib?

Hello all.

I started CPAP therapy about 7 years ago and over that time my two top front teeth have slowly drifted apart causing a gap. It appears that i've become a tongue thruster due to the forced air pressure. It's causing my tongue to be pushed forward against my teeth causing my teeth to spread apart!!

I've been to an orthodontist about closing just that gap but he's keen on doing full braces which is something I'm not interested in. Because my bite is fine he will end up having to grind down some of my teeth to make my new bite fit (his words). No thanks.

At this point all I want is a retainer to prevent my teeth from spreading further. I've read about dental retainers that are fitted woth a tongue crib or cage that keeps the tongue from pushing against the teeth and I'm thinking about asking the ortho about this as an option.

Has anyone ever heard about this? Has anyone been fitted with one of these?

Why not try another orthodontist first?

Or just get veneers that tighten the gap?
Or---Check with a dental college, and tell them what you want.

Have you changed anything about your mask interface?
Here's my story: I've been on CPAP for almost 15 years. I started with nasal pillows, having read about so many people with mask leaks and soreness and marks in the morning. Long story short, I experienced what you did within the first year (I was running at 14 cm pressure). was in my mid-40's at the time and not enthusiastic about signing up for an expensive course of braces when it seemed as if the cause of the drifting would remain.

I opted to change to a conventional nasal mask (first the Respironics Comfort Classic then the Comfort Fusion, which is what I use now. This apparently had the effect of allowing my upper teeth to drift back in but my lower teeth are gapping now and I have an underbite.

I guess my story's not as inspirational as I might have hoped but you might investigate if a different delivery mechanism might mitigate this problem.

- Chris

P.S. - I haven't actually posted an introduction posting--soon, soon...

The Tap Pap nasal pillow mask has a mouthpiece that you mold to your upper teeth.

Available from https://www.cpap.com/productpage/tap-pa ... roved.html

Tom

These are probably expensive but I know someone who used "Invisalign" to straighten a few teeth. Probably expensive but maybe not if not full mouth. I would avoid anything that molds to your teeth and keeps them in their current position unless you are just trying to keep them moving more. Good luck

Thanx everyone for your responses. I'm going to ask the ortho just to close the gap with either Invisalign or a spring retainer and see what he says. I understand why he wants to do the whole mouth (closing the gap will create other small gaps and gaps mean less stability and greater chance of relapse). I'm OK with a few small gaps which will likely only be noticeable to me anyway. I'll just make sure I wear retainers for the rest of my life.

Veneers are also a possibility but my teeth would have to be shaved down in order to accommodate the veneers so I'm not interested in that option.

Even if I leave my teeth the way they are I will still need to address the tongue thrusting. The retainer I saw is a simple wire retainer that people wear after ortho treatment but it has little looped wires molded onto the plastic part that helps hold the tongue in place so rather than pushing up against the teeth it presses up against the wire loops. This isn't permanently fixed to my mouth so I would only be wearing it at night.

I'm surprised that dentists who have patients on CPAP therapy who experience tongue thrusting and related tooth shifting don't suggest things like this before the situation gets worse, requiring full orthodontic treatment. Oh well......

Learn something new every day.
I thought tongue thrusting was what an infant does when you try to feed it something new.
This is how mommys end up with a lap full of Gerbers.