What is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy?

Myofunctional therapy uses a combination of tailored exercises designed to retrain specific muscles of the mouth and face to restore normal and healthy function.

Myofunctional Therapy can benefit children and adults who suffer from:

Sleep Apnea
Snoring
Daytime Sleepiness
Mouth Breathing
Open Mouth Posture
Tongue Thrust
Difficulty Swallowing Pills/Overactive Gag Refelx
Bed Wetting
Pacifier Use/Thumb Sucking/Nail Chewing
Tonsil and Ear Infections
Crooked Teeth after Braces
Headaches and Neck Pain
Jaw Pain
Chronic Fatigue

Mouth Breathing

Mouth breathing is an unhealthy habit that can start at a very young age, even birth. Mouth breathing is naturally meant to be a back up breathing method when the nose is not working properly. Mouth breathing can be caused by a number of factors, such as incompetent lip musculature, tethered oral tissues, low tongue posture, deviated septum, and allergies to name a few. To eliminate this unhealthy habit, it is important to seek out the root cause of mouth breathing for each individual.

Tongue and Lip Tie

Tongue and lip tie (also called TOTs or tethered oral tissues) refer to muscle attachments on the lips, tongue and cheeks. Everyone has these muscle attachments, or frenums. When the frenums are shorter or tighter than average, mobility of the oral structures can be limited. Oftentimes, limitations can create difficulty with normal growth and development, including alignment of the teeth and jaw, breathing, sleeping, chewing and swallowing, to name a few. When treating individuals with these limitations, patterns must be established to create muscle tone, balance and ideal movements of the muscles of the mouth and face to restore normal and healthy function.

Headaches and TMJ Issues

Temporomandibular joint pain and headaches, in some instances, can be caused by a myriad of factors that may include orofacial myofunctional disorders. If it is determined that OMDs are a factor, then myofunctional therapy can help to relieve symptoms, including pain.

Oral Habits

Oral habit is a broad term used to describe habits that can be detrimental to the normal development of the face teeth and jaw. These include, but are not limited to thumb sucking, tongue sucking, nail biting, hair chewing, etc. Myofunctional therapy at an early age can help to eliminate these habits and with continued therapy to retrain the muscles of the face and jaw, the patient can resume normal growth and development without the habit getting in the way.

Tongue Thrust

Tongue thrust is a term used to describe the positioning of the tongue against the teeth. Thrusting can occur as a habit throughout the day, while talking, or while swallowing. The strength of the tongue can cause the teeth to move. People with tongue thrust can have crooked teeth, an open bite between the top and bottom teeth, or jetted out front teeth, among other malalignment issues. Myofunctional therapy can help to get to the root cause of tongue thrust and build healthy habits that help eliminate thrusting.

Sleep Disordered Breathing

Sleep disordered breathing is a term used to describe a number of abnormalities that occur during sleep. These include, but are not limited to, nighttime mouth breathing, snoring, upper airway resistance syndrome, and sleep apnea. Myofunctional therapy, in conjunction with other treatments that may be indicated, can help decrease, or in some cases eliminate certain sleep abnormalities.

Payment Plans and Insurance

Payment plans are available to help ease the cost of myofunctional therapy. Unfortunately, I do not bill insurance for therapy. Patients are welcome to bill insurance on their own for reimbursement and I can provide documentation to do so. In most cases health savings accounts will cover myofunctional therapy. Ask for specific details.

Discounts are available for payment in full at the start of therapy.

Online Scheduling

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Appointments

What is Orofacial Myo​functional Therapy?