Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy

Angelle Graham, RDH

(720) 257-3497

What is Orofacial Myo​functional 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.  ​


Signs and Symptoms of OMDs in Children and Adults

***Myofunctional Therapy Can Be Successful in Children and Adults***

  • Daytime breathing habits including open mouth resting posture and audible breathing
  • Nighttime breathing habits including not sleeping through the night, clenching/grinding teeth and waking up to go to the bathroom
  • Airway obstruction including sinus congestion, large tonsils and adenoids, tongue falling into airway and sleep disordered breathing
  • Restricted lip, tongue or cheek muscle attachment (frenum)
  • Picky eating, poor chewing, soft food diets, and food aversions
  • Poor oral care-Can be due to mouth breathing and inability to reach areas due to tongue or space issues
  • Continued sucking and chewing habits-Thumb or finger, fingernails or other objects
  • Continued drooling and poor oral control
  • Tongue thrust, swallow, messy eating and audible eating (chewing and swallowing)
  • Acid reflux impacting the throat
  • Overactive Gag Reflex-Especially during dental care 
  • Poor hard palate development, non-ideal bite, and orthodontic relapse
  • Forward head posture, shoulders rolled forward
  • Clenching/Grinding, facial pain, TMJ pain and jaw tension
  • Open mouth resting posture, low tongue posture, large tongue in the way for normal resting posture.

Mouth Breathing

Mouth b​reathing 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 Schedu​ling

Click link below to request an appointment time

Appointments

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