Had 4 premolar extractions for braces - now causing problems

I had 4 premolars extracted back in August 2024 (upper firsts/lower seconds) for crowding only. Once the gaps closed in January/February, I’ve been feeling like there isn’t enough front-to-back space to rest my tongue. My palate is also somewhat narrow. My teeth feel retracted too much. My speech also feels off because of the narrowness.

I barely had any crowding to begin with so once that resolved, I had huge gaps left over that had to close by retraction.

Here are other posts from different people that describe almost exactly how I’m feeling rn. 3/4 of these posts say they had extractions: https://www.reddit.com/r/askdentists/s/lN6VLJxzr1 https://www.reddit.com/r/braces/s/ai7X9h42ci https://www.reddit.com/r/braces/s/U1zmuGPYJl https://www.reddit.com/r/braces/s/qGcLpa87lp (also seen posts of people looking to get jaw surgery bc of lack of tongue space from extractions)

My tongue can’t rest normally in my mouth. It pushes against my front teeth when I try to rest it how I used to before braces but 24/7 sticks out between top and bottom teeth. I never had a problem with tongue posture in my life until the gaps closed.

I’ve brought this up to my ortho twice now but she still says I’m fine. She asked me at my last appointment if I still felt like this and I just said idk because I didn’t want to look weird. I will continue to bring it up tho. It’s torture to feel like your own tongue doesn’t fit 24/7 every single day. People tell me I’ll adapt but it’s been the exact same for 9 months now! Now they say I’m purposely trying to be miserable or I’m making it up. There are bite marks on my tongue all the time because of how it rests sticking out.

I try to do practices of keeping my tongue up where it should be to try and convince myself it’s all in my head but it doesn’t work and my tongue feels scrunched up/cramped and forced or it’s just the tip touching the roof of my mouth. It’s like my tongue resting between my teeth is where it rested before braces only that my teeth were further out because they weren’t retracted. Even when I spit/swallow, it stays sticking out. Also feels like I can’t breathe when I do this. And not only does my tongue not fit when I try to rest it properly, but my face also looks flat and sunken in so I have to push my lower jaw forward.

I get premolar extractions are common but I firmly believe I am one of the cases where it has ruined me. Nobody who gets extractions and ends up fine experiences this! I already had recessed jaws before braces, maybe this is why? I also see my ortho every 12 weeks. She wasn’t really monitoring the gaps closing. Everyone reassured me I wouldn’t get side effects yet here we are.