OROFACIAL MYOFUNCTIONAL DISORDERS and MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPY

---

 The muscles of the face and mouth work in balance and harmony as they perform life-sustaining tasks, such as eating, drinking, talking, expressing emotions, and breathing.  These muscles are crucial for overall growth and development, as well as for the dental and airway health.  

When the muscles develop atypical patterns, it results to a disruption in the orofacial muscle function, balance and harmony, including the normal oral posture.  This leads to a series of cascading problems to the orofacial complex and the whole body.

Any disorders of the oral and facial muscles and functions that affect oral rest posture are called OROFACIAL MYOFUNCTIONAL DISORDERS. 

OROFACIAL MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPY is a customized program to correct OMDs by using neuromuscular exercises to retrain the orofacial muscles to normalize their rest posture and function, as well as oral habit elimination by using positive reinforcement.

The main root causes of OMDs are the following:

• Restricted nasal airway (due to enlarged tonsils, adenoids, and/or allergies, deviated septum)
• Oral Habits (thumb/finger sucking, prolonged pacifier use, cheek/nail biting)
• Tongue Ties (restricted/short lingual frenum)

If the following symptoms are present, Myofunctional Therapy is indicated:

• Low tongue posture
• Tongue thrust swallowing pattern
• Mouth breathing
• Open mouth posture