MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPY / OROFACIAL MYOLOGY

Myofunctional Therapy is something not a lot of offices are able to offer and we are very excited that our hygienist, Libby, is trained in Myo! Here is a quick description of what OMT is and why you should ask us about it!

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) is the neuromuscular re-education or re-patterning of the oral and facial muscles. OMT includes facial and tongue exercises and behavior modification techniques. We teach patients how to chew, swallow, seal lips, and breathe correctly. We work on habits, such as thumb sucking, which leads to poor muscle patterns that can affect total body health. When patients have good rest posture, there is stability in the orofacial complex and both form and function are able to develop properly.

We use Myofunctional therapy to treat symptoms of a wide variety of health issues including opening airways, chronic headaches, temporomandibular joint dysfuntion (TMD), and poor digestion to name a few. It may also be the most profound therapy available for the treatment of mild to moderate sleep apnea. Sleep apnea has recently gained more recognition because doctors are realizing how many people it affects. Sixty percent of the population and body type is affected by sleep apnea…even young children! Actually, 90% of children have some form of sleep disordered breathing!

There are several signs and symptom of patterning problems with the orofacial muscles. Some of these include but are not limited to the following:

• Chronic headaches
• Open mouth rest posture and/or mouth breathing
• Movement of teeth or relapse after orthodontic treatment
• Open bite (meaning your front teeth don’t overlap top over bottom)
• TMJ pain and/or neck pain
• Oral habits such as thumb or finger sucking, nail biting, lip licking, or hair chewing
• “Lisp” when saying “S” sounds
• Grinding and/or clenching teeth
• Chronic stomach aches, burping, bloating, drooling, or hiccups
• Have a “tongue-tie”
• Sleep walking, talking in your sleep or night terrors
• Snoring