Why should my tongue live on the roof of the mouth? What does the current literature say?
Across a variety of practices we are told to rest our tongue onto the roof on the roof mouth, just behind our front teeth. It has been widely encouraged across Traditional Chinese Martial Arts, Dentistry, Orofacial Myology, Strength & Conditioning and in Ancient Yogic practices. When something has been repeated across a variety of disciplines across a long period of time there must be something to it.
Below are seven reasons why your tongue should rest on the roof of your mouth in reference to academic literature.
Please note that not all of the below claims are widely accepted (I’ve ordered them in descending order from widely accepted to emerging concepts) as some only offer preliminary evidence.
The good news for you is that having the tongue resting on the roof of the mouth appears to be a generally good idea.
A high tongue posture promotes healthy teeth alignment
“The tongue supports the upper dental arch and encourages healthy dental arch development when it rests against the roof of the mouth. On the other hand, over time, malocclusion can result from incorrect tongue position, such as lying low in the mouth or thrusting forward during swallowing or speaking.” (Mrunali Deshkar et al., 2024).
A high tongue resting posture is important for the development and maintenance of a healthy top row of teeth. As the tongue is quite a strong muscle it can exert a significant force upon the roof of the mouth and surrounding teeth. The teeth will develop and align in response to the interaction between the teeth, tongue and surrounding structures (Mrunali Deshkar et al., 2024). Thus keeping the tongue on the roof of the mouth can help promote healthy teeth alignment.
2. A high tongue posture encourages nasal breathing
“When nasal breathing improves, the [low tongue posture] improves. This suggests that nasal breathing disorders are closely related to tongue posture.”
Nasal breathing is promoted with a high tongue resting position as it is physically hard for us to breath through our mouth when our tongue is resting on the roof of the mouth.
Nasal breathing is viewed as a favourable way of breathing as it humidifies and filters the air before it enters our lungs. Nasal breathing has also been found to “lower probability of getting colds, flu, allergic reaction, hay fever, or irritable coughing” (František Lörinczi et al., 2024). The full benefits of nasal breathing are not fully understood but it is understood that we should aim to adopt a nasal breathing pattern when possible and when comfortable.
3. The tongue posture assists with head and neck posture
The tongue is anatomically linked to several nearby structures including the muscles and bones in the front of the neck. A high tongue resting posture supports the suprahyoid muscles (the muscles on just below your jaw on the front of your neck). The suprahyoid muscles have been shown to have an important role in maintaining posture and equilibrium of the head. EMG studies have shown these muscles play an active role during neck and tongue motions (Bordoni et al., 2018).
4. Tongue posture can increase or decrease sympathetic nervous system activity
“If the tongue is positioned against the hard palate, the parasympathetic system will reduce its systemic activity (for example, heartbeats and respiratory rhythm increase), but if it is positioned against the soft palate, the sympathetic system will reduce its activity” (Bordoni et al., 2018)
This is fascinating as simply changing the tongue pressure against the roof of our mouth can affect the entire body via the nervous system. We have been discussing the tip of the tongue resting on the roof of the mouth (the hard palate)- the neural effect of this would be to prepare us for action by getting us into a sympathetic state. This explains why a high tongue resting posture is encouraged in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts like Wushu.
5. A high tongue posture might assist with balance
“A study shows that the mean centre of gravity (COG) velocity decreased significantly while the tongue was positioned against the upper incisors, suggesting that this tongue position can enhance the postural stability during upright standing on an unstable surface and in the absence of vision in healthy young adults… Our findings suggest that the tongue positioning can modulate postural control mechanisms.” (Alghadir et al., 2015)
When the tongue is positioned up onto the roof of the mouth, it could assist one's balance. There are lots of factors that can influence one’s balance and the exact mechanism for the tongue link to balance is hypothesized to be linked to the proximity of nearby neural pathways. Suggesting that there is potential for signals in the cranial nerves V, VII and VIII to overlap in the brain stem and that this may assist with one’s balance (Alghadir et al., 2015).
6. A high tongue resting posture might increase leg strength
“A pilot study showed a significant improvement in the isokinetic knee performance with the tongue positioned up to the palatine spot, increasing the performance of thigh muscles (through the use of an isokinetic machine), for about +30% with respect to the resting position (during both endurance and high-force muscular exercise)” (Vico et al., 2014)
It has been mentioned in the field of strength training and performance that athletes have exhibited an increase in power output with a high tongue resting posture. The mechanism behind this is not fully understood but it is hypothesized to be linked to the central nervous system. It is thought that when the tongue is trained to rest high it alters the brain (cortical plasticity)/ central nervous system. In a feat of strength the central nervous system generates force and stability by making two specific adjustments:
1. Prolonging the agonist (contracting) muscles and
2. Phase shifting the activation peak of the counteracting (antagonist) muscle.
When these two adjustments occur simultaneously and are further stimulated we can theoretically witness an increase in strength.
7. A high tongue resting posture might increase wellbeing
“This pilot study demonstrates the therapeutic potential of Nabho Mudra in adolescent health through significant improvements in both salivary lipid profiles and psychological well-being (measured via the WHO-5 questionnaire).” (“Effect of Nabho Mudra on the Salivary Lipid Profile and Well-Being of Adolescents: A Pilot Study,” 2025)
Nabho Mudra is a Yogic Practice whereby the tip of the tongue rests on the roof of the mouth just behind the rear teeth. Across a 4 week trial period carried out in India, a Traditional Yogic Practice ‘Nabho Mudra’ was tested in a cohort of 25 young adults. The results demonstrated statistically significant differences in wellbeing outcomes. The proposed mechanism behind this is unknown.
In summary:
A high tongue resting posture has potential to benefit us in a number of ways via a number of mechanisms. This doesn’t mean that the tongue should be glued there 100% of the time the tongue needs to be mobile and respond to the demmands of life. But maybe when it is not in use, perhaps consider resting the tongue on the roof of the mouth.
REFERENCES:
Alghadir, A. H., Zafar, H., & Iqbal, Z. A. (2015). Effect of tongue position on postural stability during quiet standing in healthy young males. Somatosensory & Motor Research, 32(3), 183–186. https://doi.org/10.3109/08990220.2015.1043120
Bordoni, B., Morabito, B., Mitrano, R., Simonelli, M., & Toccafondi, A. (2018). The Anatomical Relationships of the Tongue with the Body System. Cureus, 10(12). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3695
Effect of Nabho Mudra on the salivary lipid profile and well-being of adolescents: A pilot study. (2025). Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge. https://doi.org/10.56042/ijtk.v24i3.10151
František Lörinczi, Marián Vanderka, Drahomíra Lörincziová, & Mehdi Kushkestani. (2024). Nose vs. mouth breathing– acute effect of different breathing regimens on muscular endurance. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-024-00840-6
Iwasaki T., Saitoh I., Takemoto Y., et al., “Tongue Posture Improvement and Pharyngeal Airway Enlargement as Secondary Effects of Rapid Maxillary Expansion: A Cone‐Beam Computed Tomography Study,” American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics 143, no. 2 (2013): 235–245.
Mrunali Deshkar, Thosar, N. R., Kabra, S. P., Ramakrishna Yeluri, & Rathi, N. V. (2024). The Influence of the Tongue on the Development of Dental Malocclusion. Cureus, 16(5). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.61281
Vico, R. di, Luca Paolo Ardigò, Gianluca Salernitano, Karim Chamari, & Padulo, J. (2014). The acute effect of the tongue position in the mouth on knee isokinetic test performance: a highly surprising pilot study. Muscles, Ligaments and Tendons Journal, 3(4), 318. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3940506/