Essential Benefits of

Myofunctional Therapy

Understanding the role of the tongue and orofacial muscles

The relationship between the orofacial complex and health is significant. It can influence many conditions, including:

Orthodontic problems (e.g., crowded teeth, open bite)
Poor swallowing patterns (e.g., tongue-thrust)
Increased respiratory effort (e.g., mouth-breathing, snoring)

Myofunctional therapy focuses on retraining muscles to achieve four key goals:

Nasal breathing (day and night)
Maintaining a lip seal (day and night)
Proper tongue resting posture (day and night)
Proper swallowing mechanics

By targeting muscles such as the tongue, lips, cheeks, soft palate, and airway, myofunctional therapy enhances treatments like airway development, orthodontic alignment, and tongue-tie release. This integrated approach helps alleviate and prevent issues such as teeth grinding and snoring by promoting functional oral habits that maintain optimal jaw position and airway stability during and after treatment.

What is Tongue Posture and Why is it important?

Proper tongue posture means that the tongue rests fully in the palate, keeping the airway open and ensuring the teeth and bite are balanced. This supports proper craniofacial development, orthodontic alignment, and breathing.

Ideal Tongue Position:

The tongue should rest on the roof of the mouth, filling the entire oral cavity without spilling over the teeth.
It should remain in the palate at all times when not eating, drinking, or speaking.

Challenges:

Insufficient room in the roof of the mouth can prevent the tongue from staying up.
Lack of strength, tone, dissociation, and mobility can hinder proper tongue position.
Tongue-Tie (including deep ties) can restrict proper tongue function.

Importance:

Proper tongue posture is essential for optimal orofacial development and airway function.
Low tongue posture can create the tongue to rest or fall back into the airway space leading to snoring, restless sleep, chronic fatigue, ADHD, or bed-wetting in children.

Diagnosis:

A CBCT scan can help determine airway size, jaw structure and tongue posture.
A sleep study can determine if low tongue posture affects air flow and quality sleep.
An oral evaluation can determine the causes of poor tongue function and posture and what treatment would be most helpful.
An evaluation by a physician can identify if a tongue tie is preventing proper tongue posture

Tongue Position

The positioning of our teeth is a delicate balance orchestrated by the inner forces of the tongue and the outer forces of the cheek and lip muscles. When growth and development proceed optimally, this balance creates a harmonious relationship between the teeth and the bite.

Proper tongue posture and function are paramount for maintaining dental and orthodontic health. When the tongue rests low in the mouth or thrusts forward during swallowing, it continuously presses on the teeth. Over time, this pressure can misalign teeth, similar to how braces shift them into place. Additionally, this improper tongue posture can complicate closing gaps between teeth, often causing relapse after orthodontic treatment.

When the tongue rests on the floor of the mouth, the palate-the roof of the mouth0tends to be underdeveloped. This underdevelopment makes the palate too narrow to fit all the teeth evenly, resulting in issues such as a gummy smile, poor tooth alignment, uneven bites, and can even contribute to clenching, grinding, and airway problems like snoring.

The ideal tongue posture is achieved when the togue rests against the roof of the mouth. However, for individuals with suboptimal palatal growth (a narrow, high, or vaulted palate) or a tongue-tie restriction, this can be difficult to attain.

To address these challenges, we use airway appliances that encourage optimal widening and forward development of the palate. Additionally, the guidance of a myofunctional therapist, combine with diligent at-home exercises, can be very effective in achieving proper tongue posture. Together, these treatments foster better oral and overall health for the future.

Tongue Thrust: Understanding and Addressing the Issue

Proper Swallowing Mechanics: During normal swallowing, the tongue creates a wave-like motion to move the chewed food (bolus) down the esophagus and into the stomach.

What is Tongue Thrust?

In most cases of tongue thrust, the tongue moves forward during swallowing, causing an open bite where the upper and lower front teeth do not fully meet. The tongue can also thrust to the sides or back, leading to cross-bites at the back teeth or a deep overbite of the front teeth. This retained infantile swallowing pattern is akin to the "suck-swallow-breathe" method used by infants during breastfeeding and persists even after the introduction of solid foods. Tongue thrust is often linked to other orofacial dysfunctions, such as low tongue positioning and mouth breathing.

Challenges Faced During Dental Visits: Individuals with a tongue thrust often struggle to maintain their airway during dental appointments. Challenges include managing water pooling at the back of the throat dealing with the use of rubber dams and having a strong tongue or lip that tends to push dental tools away.

Effective Solutions: Creating more space in the mouth through forward and widening appliances can provide a proper resting place for the tongue. Combining this with myofunctional therapy to retrain the tongue and improve oral muscle function can effectively eliminate toneu thrust and address the underlying issues.

Tongue Ties: Understanding and Addressing Tongue-Tie

What is Tongue Tie?

"Tongue-tie" is a common term for an abnormally short lingual frenum, the tissue connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. This condition is one of the several types of tethered oral tissues that can impact both children and adults.

Impacts of Tethered Oral Tissues: In infants, these restrictions can interfere with breastfeeding and lead to improper craniofacial growth and development. These ties are embryological remnants of tissue that result in tight fascia and restricted function. Over time, these restrictions often lead to muscle compensations, fatigue, and soreness.

Classification of Ties: There are various classification scales used to identify the depth and complexity of tongue, lip, or cheek ties, helping to determine the appropriate treatment.

Treatment and Timing: The treatment and timing of a tongue-tie depend on the severity and amount of restriction. In some cases, a tongue-tie release is recommended before dental expansion. However, it is often advised to perform the release after expansion. This ensures that the improved space created by expansion allows the tongue to achieve full function.

At the Airway Center....

At the Airway Center, this holistic approach is taken into consideration and may be part of your treatment plan. We prioritize creating the optimal environment for the tongue to function properly, enhancing overall oral health and development.

Effective Solutions:

Functional Frenuloplasty: This is the preferred treatment for lip, cheek, and tongue ties. It should be performed by an experienced ENT specialist or dentist.
Additional Therapies: Skilled Cranio-Sacral Therapists, Lactation Specialists, and Myofunctional Therapists can effectively address infant tongue, lip, and cheek ties, especially when caught early.

Other Myofascial Restrictions: For other forms of myofascial restriction, treatments like physical therapy, Rolfing, or cranio-sacral therapy can also be effective.