What is an Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder?
Orofacial myofunctional disorders are abnormal or adaptive muscle patterns of the orofacial complex. These muscle patterns in turn can cause many disorders. Some of these disorders are:
Mouth breathing
Tongue thrust
Low tongue posture, tongue resting against or between the teeth
Open mouth posture (lips apart)
Thumb/digit sucking
What do we see?
Causes:
Most orofacial myofunctional disorders may arise from multiple factors:
Mouth breathing
Restricted nasal airway. This can be related to enlarged tonsils/adenoids, deviated septum or allergies.
Restricted tissues such as a tongue tie or a lip tie
Prolonged pacifier use
Improper oral habits: thumb sucking, finger sucking, lip licking, tongue sucking
Low tongue posture
Hereditary predisposition
Symptoms:
There are many medical and dental symptoms that may arise from maladaptive muscle patterns, especially if they have been occurring for a great length of time. Some of the symptom’s that you may experience are :
Crooked teeth
Orthodontic relapse
Forward head and neck posture
Abnormal growth of the jaw
Mouth breathing
Snoring and other sleep disordered breathing
Bedwetting
Pain in the facial muscles, neck or TMJ
Headaches
Clenching and grinding of the teeth (bruxism)
Feeding and swallowing concerns
Speech concerns
Options:
Orofacial myofunctional therapy is designed for anyone beginning at age 3-4 years old. An evaluation involves comprehensive data collection to assess the causes of the disorders occurring to establish a baseline for the beginning stages of therapy. The earlier therapy begins, the less dysfunction we see throughout life.
Therapy includes an array of neuromuscular retraining to establish normal breathing patterns and proper oral rest posture. If needed, we can also begin with a habit elimination program. It is necessary that all habits be eliminated before proper orofacial myofunctional therapy can be implemented.
As you can see, orofacial myofunctional disorders can create many problems throughout life. If we are able to assess and treat these disorders early in life, oftentimes we see optimal growth and development flourish in children. When these disorders persist, we see long term development issues, pain and complications in both children and adults. Myofunctional therapy is also very beneficial for adults in getting to the root cause of the problem and symptoms. We can then work to establish proper muscle patterns to alleviate these problems and symptoms and create a healthy environment.
What is orofacial myofunctional therapy
Myofunctional therapy is similar physical therapy for the muscles of the lips, tongue, face, neck and jaw. It is an exercise based therapy with a series of appointments to create habituation and retention. There are multiple factors that determine the length of treatment including:
Clients age as well as parental involvement
Client cooperation
Severity of disorder
Providers involved
A complete orofacial myofunctional evaluation should be completed by someone who is educated in all orofacial myofunctional disorders. An orofacial myofunctional therapist will evaluate and treat a variety OMD’s, however you should be aware that this is often a team approach that could involve other providers such as your primary care provider, your dentist and also an ENT depending on the disorder being diagnosed and treated. A skilled provider will be able to guide you through all treatment necessary. Please feel free to contact us for a consultation.
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