Specialist article: tongue
Tongue resting postureWhy the tongue needs a reference
Tongue to the palate, but where exactly and how firmly? Here you will find out where the tip of your tongue belongs, why a rigid “resting posture” does not really exist, and how the tongue reference position develops through breathing, swallowing and head balance.
Does this sound familiar?
Where is your tongue when you are not thinking about it?
What applies to you?
Tap whatever applies to you.
If two or more points apply, it is worth taking a closer look at your tongue reference position. Together, such signs often indicate that the tip of the tongue does not reliably find its reference point on the palate, or that it is held there by force rather than as part of the pattern. Both can be trained.
Where the tip of the tongue belongsWhy pressing is not the goalThe key points at a glance
- A rigid “tongue resting posture” does not exist, because the nervous system continuously adjusts the tongue.
- We speak of the tongue reference position, in which the tip of the tongue rests on the small bump behind the upper incisors and the back of the tongue settles against the palate when swallowing.
- This position does not come from pressing, but arises as a pattern of breathing, swallowing and head balance, and patterns can be trained.
Video
Tongue resting posture: does it even exist?
Das Video lädt erst nach dem Klick. Dann werden Daten an YouTube (Google) übertragen.
The term
What is meant by “tongue resting posture”
Anyone searching for “tongue resting posture” or “tongue position” usually wants to know where the tongue should lie when you are not speaking, eating or swallowing.
The term “tongue resting posture” comes from myofunctional therapy. Everyone understands what it means, and yet the word is misleading, because the tongue is never at rest. It changes its position with every head movement, with breathing and with gravity, and the nervous system continuously adjusts it along the way. That is why we speak of the tongue reference position.
Where is your tongue right now?
The core
Why reference position instead of resting posture
The lower jaw is a particularly good place to measure what lies behind a supposed state of rest. The same principle applies to the tongue, only even more so.
The lower jaw does not rest on its joints. It hangs in a suspension of muscles, balanced between closing muscles, opening muscles and gravity. Dentistry calls the position with slightly parted rows of teeth the “rest position”. Measurements of electrical muscle activity show how little rest there actually is in it.
average gap between the rows of teeth when the “rest position” is determined clinically, measured in 40 people1
mean distance at the actual minimum of muscle activity, in the same study1
opening across which the activity of the masseter and temporalis muscles drops sharply1
showed sustained activity of individual motor units in the temporalis muscle even in the “resting position”2
So even in the most favourable range, the muscles do not stop working. A research group at the University of Dundee also showed that this residual activity drops measurably further under hypnosis. The authors conclude from this that part of it is of biological origin3. What is measured there is not a standstill. It is a continuously adjusted reference state.
The tongue has no fixed location. It has a point of reference.Its exact point of contact changes with the breathing phase, head balance and task. What remains constant is its relationship to the front of the palate.
With the tongue, its structural principle also plays a role. It has no skeleton and moves by changing its shape, at almost the same volume. Researchers in Grenoble mechanically displaced the tongue from its position during speech. The measuring points on the tongue did not return to their original location, but to the shape needed for the sound being produced at that moment4. What was protected was not the location, but the function.
Like a boat at a jetty
A boat at a jetty never lies completely still. It rises and falls with the waves and turns a little in the wind, and yet it stays in its place because the lines maintain its relationship to the jetty. In a similar way, the tip of the tongue docks at the front of the palate, while the rest of the tongue adapts to breathing, head balance and the task at hand.
So “tongue resting posture” does not mean a point at which you hold the tongue, but a reference to which it returns by itself after every swallow. This returning is a stored movement pattern. It develops through repetition, with every swallow and every breath, and that is why it can be trained. Anyone who practises a static “resting posture”, on the other hand, is training a still image. In our view, this explains why some programmes strengthen the tongue and floor of the mouth without the swallowing pattern changing.
3D film
The path to the reference point
In ten seconds, the animation shows in lateral cross-section where the tip of the tongue belongs.
The spot
Where exactly the tip of the tongue belongs
Feel behind your upper incisors with the tip of your tongue and slide back a little. After a few millimetres, you will feel a small, soft elevation on the palate. This is the papilla incisiva, literally the small elevation at the incisors. This is where the tip of the tongue rests, without touching the teeth and without pressing.
You do not need to consciously position the rest of the tongue. When you swallow, it settles against the palate from front to back, and with the mouth closed and nasal breathing, slight negative pressure holds it there.
Why this particular spot? Of the regions of the mouth studied, the papilla incisiva contains the most fine touch and pressure sensors, but only rarely pain fibres5. The rest of the hard palate is also equipped with sensors whose arrangement is reminiscent of the fingertips6. Opposite lies the tip of the tongue, itself a highly sensitive measuring organ.
mean size of the receptive fields of fine touch sensors of the tongue, recorded from the human lingual nerve. All nerve bundles studied extended into the tip of the tongue7
lowest measured stimulus threshold of these sensors, i.e. a barely perceptible touch7
That is why we call this spot the reference point. The touch provides the nervous system with a haptic reference, a kind of handrail that guides swallowing, breathing and speaking.
At the beginning, concentrate only on the tip of the tongue; the rest of the tongue follows by itself when you swallow. If the tip slips away from the spot at first, that is normal. It just should not press against the teeth.
Swallowing
What the tongue does when swallowing
Contact between the tip of the tongue and the reference point is not yet the whole tongue reference position. It only becomes complete when swallowing. The tongue then rises towards the palate from front to back, section by section, pushing saliva or food backwards, much like a thumb squeezing out a tube of toothpaste8. This happens many hundreds to a thousand times a day9.
After swallowing, the tongue does not stay up through force. The lips rest lightly together, the tongue keeps contact with the palate, and breathing runs through the nose. The oral cavity is then under slight negative pressure, which holds the tongue there.
If the tongue drops down, the mouth has to be sealed at the front without any internal counter-support. A stable position turns into holding work for the lips and chin.
The triad
Why the tongue reference position carries so much
The tongue lies at the centre of the three basic functions of breathing, swallowing and head balance. How it lies determines the conditions for all three.
Breathing
If the tongue rests against the palate, the mouth stays closed without effort, and the air takes the route through the nose. At the same time, the tongue forms part of the wall of the upper airway. If it lies low and is not integrated into breathing and swallowing, it narrows the throat more easily during sleep. With mouth breathing, the resistance of the upper airways during sleep is considerably higher than with nasal breathing10.
Swallowing
Contact between the tip of the tongue and the reference point is the starting point of the swallowing movement. From there, the back of the tongue builds up pressure against the palate. If the initial contact changes, the sequence changes, with every single swallow.
Head balance
The tongue works on the floor of the mouth, which is suspended from the hyoid bone, a bone without a joint. In 40 healthy people, the position of the hyoid bone changed measurably as soon as the head was shifted forwards11.
In our view, a missing tongue reference position therefore usually does not occur in isolation. It is part of a pattern in which breathing, swallowing and head balance fall out of balance together. This triadic functional circuit stands at the start of many causal chains.
The reference is missing
The tip of the tongue rests low, and there is no contact with the palate. This often begins with mouth breathing in childhood.
The feedback fades
Without contact, the tongue and palate receive no stimuli. Over time, the brain hardly expects any signals from there any more.
Other muscles step in
The lips, chin muscle, floor of the mouth and chewing muscles take over sealing and support. A relaxed resting position turns into holding work.
The pattern becomes ingrained
With every swallow, the substitute solution is repeated and reinforced.
Symptoms become visible
Tongue thrusting, an open mouth posture, misaligned teeth, tense jaw and neck muscles, or snoring and pauses in breathing at night can stand at the end of this chain.
In our view, snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea are usually the night-time end stage of a pattern that begins during the day. In an analysis of 9 studies with 120 adults, exercises for the tongue, palate and throat reduced the pauses in breathing and shallow breathing on average from 24.5 to 12.3 per hour of sleep14. The studies did not concern the FaceFormer. But they show that the tension of the airways can be trained. More on this in the article Snoring and sleep apnoea.
Tongue tension
Not the location, the shape is what counts
Because the tongue constantly changes its position, it makes more sense to look at shape and tension than at a location. We speak of physiological tongue tension, a balanced baseline tension in which the tongue holds its shape and can adapt freely. If the pattern deviates, we speak of tongue dyskinesia.
Low and flat
The tongue lies in the lower jaw, with the tip down behind the incisors. There is no contact with the palate, and the lips and chin take over the sealing.
Balanced
The tip of the tongue rests at the reference point, and the back of the tongue spreads broadly against the palate when swallowing. The tension is just enough to hold the shape. This is physiological tongue tension.
Pressed
The tongue is pushed forcefully against the palate or against the teeth. Other muscles tense up as well, often the floor of the mouth, the chin or the jaw.
A baseline tension is maintained even during sleep, although weaker than when awake. The skeletal muscles are largely switched off only during dream sleep, REM sleep. How this happens was shown by a study at the University of Toronto on the chewing muscles of rats: the messenger substances GABA and glycine inhibit the controlling nerve cells and specifically switch off muscle activity13. Outside these phases, the muscles retain their baseline tension, including those of the tongue.
Like the back of your hand on the table
If you place your hand on the table with the back of the hand down, the fingers stay slightly bent and the palm slightly curved without you doing anything. The hand keeps a basic shape by itself. In a similar way, the tongue holds its shape even without deliberate tension. Only in REM sleep does this tension largely subside.
“Tongue pressing”, “tongue thrust” or “tongue protrusion” usually describe the same picture. When swallowing, the tip of the tongue pushes against or between the incisors instead of bracing itself at the reference point. In our view, this is usually a substitute solution, because a low-lying tongue has to seal the swallow at the front, against the teeth.
Tooth marks along the edge of the tongue are also often attributed to a tongue that is too large. However, the tongue largely keeps its volume; what changes is its shape. If it lies low and wide, the same volume presses sideways against the rows of teeth. The marks then show where the tongue is lying.
Context
Mewing, tongue exercises and myofunctional therapy
Under the label “Mewing”, the recommendation is spreading to lay the tongue flat against the palate and deliberately press it there throughout the day, often combined with the hope of a more defined jawline. The tip of the tongue at the front of the palate is, in principle, described correctly. The difference is that in mewing the position is held, whereas in FaceFormer training it emerges from the movement sequence.
In our view, sustained, static pressure of the tongue against the palate is not a natural state. Anyone who forcefully presses the tip of the tongue upwards without this being integrated into swallowing and breathing often also strains the chin muscle, the floor of the mouth and the jaw muscles. Force is not the goal; the pattern is what counts.
Pressing the tongue against the palate (mewing)
- Holds a position consciously and with force
- Focuses mainly on the tongue
- Swallowing, nasal breathing and head balance are not specifically included
- More pressure is seen as more progress
FaceFormer training
- The tongue finds its position through swallowing and negative pressure
- Practises lip closure, tongue, nasal breathing and head balance in one sequence
- The goal is a pattern that runs without thinking
- Repetition and precision count, not force
Both approaches take the tongue seriously. They differ in whether the position is held or learned as a pattern.
Classic myofunctional therapy, MFT for short, also starts from a correct basic idea, because functions shape structures. But many programmes practise individual movements. Isolated tongue exercises such as pressing against a spatula train a single movement outside the context of swallowing. The tongue is connected via the floor of the mouth and the hyoid bone to the lower jaw, throat and head balance. If it presses against resistance, the brain receives a tongue signal without the swallowing sequence to which it belongs.
In our view, this makes the muscle stronger, but not the pattern more orderly. In the Hamburg comparative study with myofunctional therapy without a device, the tongue in the FaceFormer group rested against the palate more often during swallowing, and lip closure was established more quickly. Lip strength increased in both groups; the difference was in the swallowing pattern15. FaceFormer therapy is therefore not classic MFT. It trains breathing, swallowing and head balance at the same time in one sequence.
Precision does not develop before the pattern, but within the pattern.Swallowing is a coupled sequence of tongue, palate, lips, jaw and breathing. That is where the tongue learns its task.
Training
Tongue training: training the tongue reference position
Just thinking about it is not enough. As soon as your attention is elsewhere, the old pattern returns. A study from Aalborg shows that the tip of the tongue can become more precise at the front of the palate. Eighteen people used the tip of the tongue to target areas on the palate; at the front they were faster and more accurate, and over three days of practice they improved considerably12.
In FaceFormer training, the tongue reference position emerges from the sequence itself. The FaceFormer sits in the oral vestibule, in front of the teeth and behind the lips. The tip of the tongue rests at the reference point, you breathe through your nose, and your head is balanced upright.
In the basic exercise, you press the lip wedge together with your lips, bite down briefly with your back teeth and swallow once. The negative pressure draws the tongue against the palate. Then you relax your lips, and the tip of the tongue stays where it is.
At the beginning, the tip of the tongue often presses harder against the reference point than necessary. As long as a position is unfamiliar, you unconsciously use more force to hold it. With increasing practice and automation, the pressure usually becomes lighter. What matters is that the tip of the tongue is in the right place and correctly aligned, not how hard it presses. If the tip of the tongue does not come up despite practice, a frenulum that is too short may be behind it. You can read what to do then in the article Cutting a tongue tie.
In the pull exercise, you additionally pull the lip wedge forwards with your thumb and index finger, only as firmly as your lips can hold it. The negative pressure in the mouth increases, and when you swallow, the tip of the tongue remains the fixed point from which the whole sequence starts.
The clip shows the genioglossus, the largest tongue muscle. It attaches on the inside of the chin, draws the tongue forwards and upwards, and here works together with the lips, the floor of the mouth and breathing.
- From day 1
Basic exercise
A few minutes three times a day with the FaceFormer ZERO; you increase the repetitions week by week.
- From around week 3
Pull exercise and night
The pull exercise is added. At night you wear the FaceFormer ZERO as soon as you have mastered the basic exercise.
- After a few weeks
Switching to the ONE
During the day, you train with the FaceFormer ONE. It is the same size and shape as the ZERO, just made of firmer material.
- From around week 6
Extended modules
Depending on your needs, further modules are added, such as the head balance rotation.
- Over months
The pattern runs by itself
The exercise manual allows six to twelve months until the new sequences run without thinking.
The free FaceFormer app guides you through the basic exercises, and you’ll find all modules on the exercise pages. Children have their own exercise plan. You can find out more under FaceFormer for children.
Everyday life
Tongue reference position in everyday life
Rest it, don’t press
The tip of the tongue touches the reference point without pressing. If you feel tension in the floor of your mouth, your chin or your neck, it is too much.
Teeth apart
Except when chewing and swallowing, your teeth are slightly apart. If you catch yourself clenching, release your teeth and rest the tip of your tongue in place.
Lips closed, nose open
Your lips rest loosely together, and the air takes the route through your nose. With your mouth closed and nasal breathing, the negative pressure holds your tongue against the palate almost by itself.
Quick checks throughout the day
Link a quick inward check to something you do often, such as unlocking your phone. Where is the tip of your tongue? Are you breathing through your nose?
Head balance at the screen
Set up your screen and seat so that your head balances over your body and does not drift forwards.
Be patient with swallowing
If swallowing is difficult during training at first, start by swallowing only on every second repetition.
Increase gradually
If you feel a pulling sensation in your tongue, floor of the mouth or neck after training, reduce the repetitions in the app and increase more slowly. Strength is not the goal.
Questions
Frequently asked
What is the correct tongue resting posture?
This means the position of the tongue when you are not speaking, eating or swallowing. The tip of the tongue rests on the small bump behind the upper incisors without touching the teeth, and the back of the tongue lies broadly against the palate. The lips are loosely closed and the teeth are slightly apart. Because the tongue is never completely at rest, we speak of the tongue reference position.
Where exactly should the tip of the tongue be?
At the papilla incisiva, a small, soft bump on the palate a few millimetres behind the upper incisors. Slide the tip of your tongue a little way back from the back of your incisors. That is where it rests, without pressing.
How do I keep my tongue on the palate?
Not by holding it there. Let the tip of your tongue rest loosely on the small ridge behind the upper front teeth, with your lips closed and your teeth slightly apart, and breathe through your nose. Swallowing does the rest: with every swallow, the back of the tongue settles against the palate, and the negative pressure in the closed mouth keeps it there. If you consciously push your tongue up, you also tense the floor of the mouth and the jaw. For the position to stay without you having to think about it, the tongue needs a baseline tension, which builds up through training, and a swallowing pattern that brings it back to the palate again and again.
Do I have to press my tongue firmly against the palate?
No. The tongue reference position is not a feat of strength. In our view, constant pressing also tenses the floor of the mouth, the chin and the jaw, and tends to disrupt the natural pattern. The tip of the tongue rests in place, and the rest follows through swallowing and negative pressure.
What is the difference between mewing and FaceFormer training?
Both place the tip of the tongue at the front of the palate. In mewing, the tongue is held in this position deliberately and with force. In FaceFormer training, the position arises from the sequence of lip closure, nasal breathing, swallowing and head balance. The aim is a pattern that runs without thinking, not the firmest possible pressure.
What do tongue pressing and tongue thrust mean?
Both terms describe the tongue pushing forwards against or between the incisors when swallowing, instead of bracing itself against the palate. This is also referred to as tongue protrusion. In our view, it is usually a compensatory solution when the tongue lies low, because the swallow then has to be sealed at the front against the teeth.
Why does my tongue have tooth marks along its edge?
Tooth marks along the edge of the tongue often indicate that the tongue lies low and wide in the lower jaw and presses sideways against the rows of teeth. A genuinely enlarged tongue is rare and in that case has an identifiable underlying condition.
Which tongue training is suitable for adults?
One that does not strengthen the tongue in isolation but integrates it into the sequence. Exercises such as tongue clicking or pressing against a spatula make the muscle stronger but do not change where the tongue lies when you are not thinking about it. In FaceFormer training, you practise the tongue reference position, lip closure, nasal breathing and swallowing in one sequence, three times a day for a few minutes and, after a few weeks, at night with the ZERO as well. Even if you have had the pattern since childhood, you can relearn it this way. Expect it to take several months before it runs by itself.
Is FaceFormer therapy a form of myofunctional therapy?
Not in the classic sense. Myofunctional therapy often practises individual movements of the tongue and lips, for example pressing against a spatula. In our view, this makes the muscle stronger, but not the pattern more orderly. FaceFormer therapy trains breathing, swallowing and head balance at the same time in one sequence, with the tongue as part of the pattern. If you are already in speech therapy or myofunctional treatment, you can raise the training there.
Where does the tongue lie during sleep?
Ideally where it also lies during the day, with the tip at the front of the palate. Muscle tension decreases during sleep, but a baseline tension remains. Only in dream sleep (REM) does the nervous system largely switch off the skeletal muscles, and these phases pass again each time. If the tongue lacks baseline tension or the mouth is open, it sinks backwards and can narrow the throat. More on this under Snoring and sleep apnoea.
More articles from the knowledge section
Experiences on this topic
Where to go next
Sources
- Michelotti A, Farella M, Vollaro S, Martina R (1997). Mandibular rest position and electrical activity of the masticatory muscles. Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry 78(1):48-53. PMID 9237146. Source
- Yilmaz G, Uginčius P, Sebik O, Türker KS (2015). Tonic activity of the human temporalis muscle at mandibular rest position. Archives of Oral Biology 60(11):1645-1649. PMID 26351747. Source
- Al-Enaizan N, Davey KJ, Lyons MF, Cadden SW (2015). Effect of hypnosis on masseter EMG recorded during the ‘resting’ and a slightly open jaw posture. Journal of Oral Rehabilitation 42(11):840-846. PMID 26059538. Source
- Ito T, Szabados A, Caillet JL, Perrier P (2020). Quick compensatory mechanisms for tongue posture stabilization during speech production. Journal of Neurophysiology 123(6):2491-2503. PMID 32432505. Source
- Endo C, Sato T, Yajima T, Igarashi K, Ichikawa H (2018). Innervation of the Human Incisive Papilla: Comparison with Other Oral Regions. Cells Tissues Organs 205(2):93-104. PMID 29734141. Source
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- Trulsson M, Essick GK (1997). Low-threshold mechanoreceptive afferents in the human lingual nerve. Journal of Neurophysiology 77(2):737-748. PMID 9065846. Source
- Hiiemae KM, Palmer JB (2003). Tongue movements in feeding and speech. Critical Reviews in Oral Biology and Medicine 14(6):413-429. PMID 14656897. Source
- Lear CS, Flanagan JB, Moorrees CF (1965). The frequency of deglutition in man. Archives of Oral Biology 10:83-100. PMID 14262163. Source
- Fitzpatrick MF, McLean H, Urton AM, Tan A, O’Donnell D, Driver HS (2003). Effect of nasal or oral breathing route on upper airway resistance during sleep. European Respiratory Journal 22(5):827-832. PMID 14621092. Source
- Ye J, Jin L, Cheng R et al. (2025). Changes in the craniofacial morphology and hyoid bone position in the neutral and forward head posture in healthy individuals: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation 38(3):533-543. PMID 39973255. Source
- Caltenco HA, Lontis ER, Boudreau SA, Bentsen B, Struijk J, Andreasen Struijk LN (2012). Tip of the tongue selectivity and motor learning in the palatal area. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 59(1):174-182. PMID 21954196. Source
- Brooks PL, Peever JH (2012). Identification of the transmitter and receptor mechanisms responsible for REM sleep paralysis. Journal of Neuroscience 32(29):9785-9795. PMID 22815493. Source
- Camacho M, Certal V, Abdullatif J, Zaghi S, Ruoff CM, Capasso R, Kushida CA (2015). Myofunctional Therapy to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sleep 38(5):669-675. PMID 25348130. Source
- Korbmacher HM, Schwan M, Berndsen S, Bull J, Kahl-Nieke B (2004). Evaluation of a new concept of myofunctional therapy in children. International Journal of Orofacial Myology 30:39-52. PMID 15832861. Hamburg study; co-author Sabine Berndsen is a co-developer of the FaceFormer. Source
Get started
Ready for the training?
The free FaceFormer app guides you through the basic exercises, counts along and reminds you of your sessions. If you wish, a practice from the practitioner directory can support you.
FaceFormer ZERO + ONE
Both material hardnesses for getting started, day and night. The set for adults.
FaceFormer ZERO
The softer FaceFormer for getting started, for children and for the night.
FaceFormer ZERO Children’s Set
ZERO with hygiene box, plush bag and success book with stamp.
FaceFormer training aims to restore the physiological setting of the basic functions of breathing, swallowing and head balance, with lip closure and the tongue reference position, thereby creating the conditions under which symptoms can improve. It does not replace a medical assessment. You can find practitioners near you in the practitioner directory.
