One of the main reasons to treat orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMD) in adulthood is sleep. Restorative sleep is essential for life long health. Orofacial myofunctional therapy has been proven to reduce AHI (the apnea-hypopnea index used to grade the severity of OSA) by 50% in adults. When combined with lifestyle changes such as weight loss, addressing allergies, quitting smoking, changing sleep positions, and implementing good sleep hygiene, the effects can be life-changing!

As a parent, we want to do everything we can to set our children up for success. Proper growth and development of the jaws and the airway is important not only for them to be healthy in childhood, but for life-long health! Learn the 7 most important factors to optimal craniofacial development.

When tongue ties are left undiagnosed and untreated into adulthood, a myriad of symptoms can result including: sleep disorders, headaches, digestive issues, compromised immunity, chronic neck and back pain, TMJ disorder, anxiety, depression and more.

Tongue Ties aren’t new, but our old ways of identifying them aren’t effective. Tongue ties go far beyond just the ability to breastfeed or speech issues in childhood. An untreated tongue tie can cause long lasting physical, mental and emotional effects.

Tongue Tie (aka ankyloglossia) is a common developmental issue, affecting 4-10% of the population. Tongue ties are not new, but our medical system is not adequately training clinicians to properly identify and treat them. We should strive to identify and treat every tongue tie to give our infants their best chance to thrive!

If we want our children to grow to their full potential and live healthy lives free of disease we need to be supplying their bodies with nutritious diets and the opportunity to actually chew!

As a myofunctional therapist, finding out where the tongue rests is a priority, because we know where the tongue spends most of its time matters! If we can correct the tongue’s posture we can optimize growth and development.

An exercise program similar to physical therapy, specifically targeting the muscles of the mouth, face, and neck to correct dysfunction. The goals of myofunctional therapy are optimal breathing, a proper oral rest posture, and to develop functional chewing and swallowing patterns.