Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy for Children, Teens, & Adults
At Making Connections LLC, we specialize in providing myofunctional therapy to address challenges in the following areas:
Speech Disorders • Tongue & Lip Ties • Tongue Thrust • Orthodontic Relapse • Feeding & Swallowing Disorders • Teeth Grinding • Open Mouth Breathing • Sleep Issues
Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders
Orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMD) are characterized by atypical movement patterns of the face and mouth during speech, swallowing, or at rest.
OMD often are the underlying cause of challenges such as:
Speech sounds being said incorrectly
Swallowing difficulty
Misaligned teeth and orthodontic relapse
Teeth grinding and jaw function
Sleep issues
Symptoms of an Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder
Chronic open-mouthed posture
Tongue pushing against the teeth or protruding out of the mouth when swallowing
Chewing food with lips open
Tongue pushes between the teeth during speech
Speech distortions, especially lisp (e.g., sock is pronounced thock)
Front teeth that stick out
Mouth breathing
Tongue resting low in the mouth
Lips apart at rest/bunched chin
Dental facial abnormalities
Tongue "thrust"
Orthodontic relapse
Picky eating
Messy eating
Difficulty with speech sounds
Drooling
Snoring
Sleep disordered breathing/apnea
Oral habits (thumb sucking, prolonged pacifier, etc.)
Headaches
Teeth grinding/clenching
Tongue tie/lip tie
Bed wetting
FAQs
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Your or your child's myofunctional disorder might not have a single identifiable cause. Orofacial myofunctional disorders are often caused by learned behaviors, genetic and environmental factors, and physical/structural variables.
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It’s never too late, or too early to begin! Children as young as 3 years old can benefit from an evaluation to determine the underlying causes of obligate mouth breathing, the presence of a lip- or tongue-tie, delayed speech sound development, and/or harmful sucking habits. Based on the evaluation, referrals to other professionals along with immediate recommendations will be made.
Children, teens, and adults of all ages can benefit from Orofacial Myofunctional therapy programs to achieve lasting results.
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Myofunctional therapy focuses on retraining and strengthening the muscles of the mouth and face to address the underlying cause of the myofucntional disorder. Myofunctioanl therapy will help:
Improve stubborn articulation disorders
Improve open-mouth breathing
Treat the symptoms contributing to TMD when it is a muscle or habit-related issue
Improve digestive disorders from not chewing properly or swallowing air
Reduce the risk of re-attachment of the tongue or lip after surgery
Improve forward head postural problems relating to atypical tongue and mouth postures