Helping You Understand Myofunctional Therapy

The muscles in your mouth, face and jaw are constantly working to help you take your next breath, swallow the food you eat, make facial expressions and talk to loved ones. But sometimes, these muscles don’t work as well as they should, which can lead to issues such as sleep apnea, speech difficulties or jaw pain. While there are targeted treatments for these conditions, myofunctional therapy is a holistic approach that delivers long-lasting results without needing surgery or equipment.

Keep reading to learn more about myofunctional therapy, including what it treats, its health benefits and answers to commonly asked questions.

What Is Myofunctional Therapy?

Oral myofunctional disorders (OMDs) cause abnormal muscle patterns and movements in the face and jaw that impact daily functioning, such as breathing, chewing, swallowing and speaking. Healthcare providers use myofunctional therapy to address these issues.

Myofunctional therapy is a type of physical therapy designed to strengthen and train the muscles in your mouth, face and jaw to help them function as they should and rest in proper alignment. It also aims to support proper eating, breathing, swallowing and speech functionality. Myofunctional therapists develop personalized therapies for each patient that help their jaw, lips, teeth and tongue to work together as one team to address OMDs.

How Myofunctional Therapy Can Benefit Your Health

Myofunctional therapy can effectively treat OMDs, thus improving your overall health. According to the National Library of Medicine, myofunctional therapy produces clinically noticeable changes in patients with OMDs. Let’s break down how this therapy treats several OMDs.

Speech Therapy

Myofunctional therapy can be used in addition to speech therapy to retrain the muscles of your face, mouth, tongue, jaw and lips to correct underlying muscle dysfunctions. A common speech impairment is improper tongue placement or thrusting. By using myofunctional therapy, you can strengthen and retrain the tongue muscles to rest naturally at the roof of your mouth, rather than pushing against or through the teeth, which can help treat a lisp and improve your overall speech clarity.

Mouth Breathing

Mouth breathing can be caused by an OMD or when there’s an obstruction in your nasal passages that forces you to breathe through your mouth to get enough oxygen. Myofunctional therapy can target the muscles of your tongue, lips and throat to restore proper tongue posture, strengthen your lip seal, retrain swallowing patterns and increase airway muscle tone.

TMJ Disorders

Myofunctional therapy treats temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders by providing physical therapy for the muscles of your face, mouth and tongue. Your provider will create personalized exercises for you to do that retrain your muscles to break harmful habits, such as clenching, grinding or improper swallowing.

Tongue Tie

When the band of skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth is abnormally thick or short and restricts mobility, that’s known as a tongue tie. While myofunctional therapy can’t directly treat a tongue tie, it’s highly effective at regaining strength and control of the mouth and tongue muscles after a quick in-office procedure.

Pediatric Concerns

It’s common for infants and toddlers to have OMDs like mouth breathing, tongue thrust and sleep-disordered breathing. However, they usually resolve on their own. If children present OMDs after the age of three, then intervention is necessary. Myofunctional therapy can address these pediatric concerns by encouraging proper nasal breathing, correcting the tongue's resting posture, improving swallowing and eliminating harmful habits, like thumb sucking.

What to Expect During a Myofunctional Therapy Session

To begin your myofunctional therapy session, your provider will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your mouth, jaw and facial muscles. They’ll examine how you breathe, swallow and chew to create a personalized treatment plan to retrain your muscles.

Your therapist will likely walk you through several exercises to ensure you’re doing them properly. After your initial appointment, you’ll have weekly or bi-weekly follow-up visits to evaluate your progress and to make necessary adjustments.

It’s important to know that myofunctional therapy isn’t a quick fix for OMDs. It takes time and discipline to retrain your muscles, so give yourself some grace. Our providers will be with you every step of the way, providing whole-person care and a supportive presence.

Myofunctional Therapy Support Is Within Reach

You have what it takes to overcome your oral myofunctional disorder — and you have a team of expert myofunctional therapists in your corner, supporting you every step of the way. Learn more about our sports medicine and rehab care, and explore how we can partner with you on your journey toward whole-person health.