Anthony Goldsmith
This diagram illustrates the complex neural network involved in oral motor control, showing how movement, sensation, coordination, and muscle activation work together to support functions such as breathing, chewing, swallowing, speech, and tongue posture. The primary motor cortex initiates voluntary movement, while the premotor cortex helps plan and organise these movements before they occur. The basal ganglia and cerebellum form part of the extrapyramidal system, refining movement quality, timing, coordination, and automatic motor patterns. Sensory information from receptors in the mouth, face, tongue, and airway travels through the sensory system to the brainstem, thalamus, and somatosensory cortex, providing continuous feedback about position, pressure, movement, and touch. This sensory input allows the brain to adjust motor output in real time, creating efficient and accurate movement patterns. The brainstem acts as a critical integration centre, connecting higher brain regions with the cranial nerves and muscles through the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Together, these interconnected pathways form a dynamic sensorimotor system that underpins oral function, postural stability, airway health, communication, and overall nervous system regulation.
+
Anthony Goldsmith
Maintaining the tongue on the roof of the mouth while performing slow head turns and nasal breathing is a simple way to strengthen the sensorimotor pathways involved in oral function. This exercise provides sensory input from the mouth and face, engages brainstem and cerebellar networks, and improves communication between the brain and oral muscles. Regular practice can help tongue posture, swallowing, breathing, coordination, and overall nervous system regulation.
