Myofunctional Therapy

Did you know that simple exercises can help you breathe better, avoid jaw pain or headaches, and help your orthodontic results stay in place? Many of the common problems people seek treatment for at our office can be improved with exercises, known as myofunctional therapy. This includes sleep apnea, TMJ, orthodontic problems, and more. Burke, VA neuromuscular dentist Dr. Pamela Marzban works with a certified Orofacial Myofunctional Therapist (OMT) to provide myofunctional therapy for her patients.

A Tongue Release, also referred to as the release of tongue-ties (ankyloglossia), can be performed on the connective tissue beneath the tongue. There are several different ways that the tongue can be attached to the floor of the mouth: at the tip of the tongue, the anterior of the tongue and the back of the tongue. Once the tongue is released, patients often experience immediate relief from tightness and pain in the mouth, neck and even shoulders. A tongue release can be used in conjunction with myofunctional therapy to adjust tongue position and assist in swallowing and other tongue functions.

Myofunctional therapy is commonly used to treat what we describe as an orofacial myofunctional disorder (OMD). We understand that you might not be familiar with the name, but you probably recognize one or more of the symptoms:

• Difficulty chewing or eating
• Speech disorders
• Sleep disordered breathing
• Bruxism (clenching and grinding teeth)
• TMJ symptoms (jaw pain, headaches, and more)
• Orthodontic problems, including orthodontic relapse
• Mouth breathing
• Lips that don’t stay closed

There are many possible approaches to treating these problems, including myofunctional therapy. In some cases, myofunctional therapy can be used as the primary treatment for these conditions. Usually, though, it’s an adjunctive treatment, which is used to improve the results of other treatment.

Treatment is usually most effective when started early, but both children and adults can benefit from myofunctional therapy.

The muscles, bones, and teeth all develop together, and have to work together to provide optimal function and form. And as these structures develop, they influence related structures, such as the airway.

Development is a complex process in which function influences growth that creates form which in turn influences function. In an optimal system, all the natural demands you put on your jaw system will cause the jaw to develop into a robust system that is capable of performing all these demands in a healthy way. But if your muscles aren’t functioning optimally, they can influence the development of your teeth, jaws, and other structures in ways that lead to problems such as crooked or crowded teeth, obstructed airways, jaw clenching, painful muscles, and other problems.

The goal of myofunctional therapy is to retrain your muscles to function in a healthy way. This leads the muscles to become stronger so they can do their job better, and it helps them influence healthy development of your teeth, jaws, airway, and more.

During your comprehensive evaluation, we’ll look for OMDs, such as:

• Unhealthy tongue position
• Unhealthy jaw position
• Tongue thrusting
• Poor swallowing technique or function

Once we’ve determined the OMDs that contribute to your functional problems, we’ll design a personalized exercise routine to resolve them. We’ll teach you how to do the exercises, and then you’ll do the exercises for 6-12 months.

By this time you can see substantial improvement, and we’ll evaluate your results. Then we may decide whether you should keep doing the exercises, perform an altered routine, or maybe you can stop the exercises altogether, having achieved our treatment goals.

Sometimes people with tongue tie may benefit from getting it released, since this will make the exercises easier.

• Sleep apnea
• TMJ disorders
• Orthodontic relapse