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

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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