Infantile swallowing in children: history of the issue and current concepts

Swallowing is a complex physiological process, which is ensured by the coordinated actions of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx and esophagus muscles under the control of the nervous system. As reported earlier, dysfunction and tongue posture disorder are one of the main reasons for the change in the myodynamic balance between the tongue muscle from the inside and the muscles of the maxillofacial region from the outside. Persistent muscle imbalance can contribute to the disruption of the formation and growth of the upper jaw in postnatal period, vital functions, body posture, and as a result, affect the overall health and psychoemotional development of growing patients. However, the question of the role of tongue dysfunction in the occurrence of malocclusion in growing patients remains open. The article presents modern data from the analysis of specialized literature over the past 7 years on the prevalence of infantile swallowing in children with mixed dentition, issues of etiopathogenesis and known classifications from the Researchgate, PubMed and E-library databases. The article describes influence of the studied functional disorder on the growing patients and considers preventive measures aimed at normalizing the swallowing function as one of the main factors for harmonious development of dentofacial structures in children.