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Anterior Tongue Thrust Swallow (ATTS), a swallowing pattern by pushing the tongue onto anterior dentition, can initiate malocclusion in the anterior region, which will create psychophysiological problems due to aesthetic, speech, and mastication disorders. The use of a Tongue Crib (TC) as a corrective device for ATTS is to block the force of tongue against the anterior teeth. Wearing a TC will have an experience of discomfort for the patient and can be an obstacle in using TC regularly, lengthening the period of treatment. A clinical trial with 25 subjects using TC in their retention period, and 48 patients only using Hawleyretainer without crib as control, was carried out from September 2004 until May 2005 in the FKG UI Orthodontics clinic, the Orthodontics Clinic of Lembaga Kedokteran Gigi (Ladokgi) TNI AL R.E. Martadinata and in a specialist clinic. The survival analysis for the TC users, associated with sensor time, indicates that 25 of the TC users had not succeeded to correct ATTS. A discomfort questionnaire (DQ) was specifically designed for this study, consisting of 9 items. A significant result was that the discomfort experienced was one of the risk factor for the ineffectiveness of Tongue Crib in correcting ATTS. |
