Myofunctional Therapy

Let’s unpack that fancy word.

MYO  means muscles. Specifically, the muscles that allows us to breathe, chew and swallow.

Functional means to function.

Therapy means the use of an intervention to improve on function and form.

So Myofunctional Therapy is a form of therapy that is intended to optimize the function of the muscles for breathing, chewing and swallowing.

The first step in determining if myofunctional therapy can help, is to determine if there is a problem. This requires special training to be able to identify the signs and symptoms of a disorder.

Probably the most common question we get from parents is “why are my child’s teeth coming in crooked?”.

Or as adults, “I had orthodontics twice yet my teeth keep shifting back and are still crooked, why is that?”.

And one that we are seeing far too often now, “I can’t tolerate the CPAP (mask and snorkel) to treat my sleep apnea and they now say I should try a bite guard, or piece of acrylic, to put in my mouth while I sleep”.

All these issues have the same underlying fundamental causes:

-dysfunctional breathing, chewing and swallowing habits.

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Identification of these disorders is only part of the solution.

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