Myofunctional Therapy

What Is Myofunctional Therapy?

Myofunctional therapy is a special type of therapy that caters to the tongue, mouth, and face. This therapy is meant to treat patients suffering from an Orofacial Malfunctioning Disorder (OMD). AN OMD is when a person’s lip, jaw, or tongue are in an abnormal position when someone sleeps, speaks, or swallows. OMDs are usually caused by bad habits, such as thumb sucking, excessive bottle or pacifier use, or an obstruction in the upper airways.

Goals of Myofunctional Therapy

The primary goal of myofunctional therapy is to improve a person’s breathing. Being able to breathe better can solve a large variety of medical issues. The other goals of myofunctional therapy include nasal breathing, closing the lips, removing the tongue from the roof of the mouth, and practicing proper swallowing patterns.

FAQ

Is Myofunctional Therapy Safe?

Yes, myofunctional therapy is a safe, non-invasive treatment for conditions, such as sleep apnea, snoring, upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS), and TMJ pain. It is also an effective treatment for systemic conditions, like high blood pressure and heart disease.

How Long Is Myofunctional Therapy Treatment?

Patients who undergo myofunctional therapy treatment will participate in a 12-week program where they will learn how to build new and healthy habits. Getting into new habits is not easy to do, however, the exercises involved are simple and fun to practice. The only real difficulty is building the proper habits. When building new habits, you are effectively replacing the old ones.

However, since the brain is used to these habits, breaking them can be difficult. Myofunctional therapy is meant to help people comfortably transition between these habits in a safe and engaging environment.

Who Benefits From Getting Myofunctional Therapy?

Most patients who receive myofunctional therapy are adults. However, children can also benefit from undergoing myofunctional therapy. The reason why children can benefit from this type of therapy is to help prevent them from experiencing health issues down the road. It is also to help ease them out of potentially bad habits, like overdependence on pacifiers and finger sucking.

Can Myofunctional Therapy Help Treat Mouth Breathing?

Absolutely! Mouth breathing is a common reason why people get myofunctional therapy. Mouth breathing can become problematic if allowed to persist. This is because excessive mouth breathing can cause a variety of symptoms.

These symptoms include the following:

• Impacted wisdom teeth.
• Bad breath.
• Orthodontic relapse.
• Underdeveloped jaws.
• Physical changes to our face.
• ADHD-like symptoms in children.

By getting myofunctional therapy, you can offset these potential symptoms. For those who have small children, you can keep them from having to deal with these problems as they get older.

How Reputable Is Myofunctional Therapy?

Myofunctional therapy has become increasingly popular over the past few years. This therapy used to be almost unheard of because a lot of doctors, such as dentists, orthodontists, and ENTs did not undergo training for it. These days, more patients are seeing results over the course of about four months.

Schedule Your Consultation Today

At Golden Dental Solutions, we pride ourselves on always providing patient-centric care. If you would like to know more about myofunctional therapy, contact our Golden, CO office today at 303-277-9600.