Myofunctional Therapy
What is this service?
Myofunctional therapy uses a combination of physical therapy exercises to improve the bite, breathing, and facial posture of those with orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs). The training targets the face, neck, and mouth's soft tissues to reach optimal tongue position and oral rest posture. OMDs can affect people of all ages, and treatment is customized based on your age and symptoms.
What is the procedure?
Your myofunctional therapist will create an individualized program to retrain your orofacial muscles and improve function. Some goals of your training might include normalizing the resting posture for your tongue and lips, establishing nasal breathing patterns. As you retrain these patterns, your myofunctional therapist will help you increase awareness of your mouth and facial muscles. The therapist will most likely give you exercises to complete at home to focus on ideal swallowing, breathing, and resting patterns. Practicing these positions and movements will increase your muscle strength and coordination.
What are the benefits?
Myofunctional therapy will improve your OMD symptoms — from speaking more clearly to eating more efficiently and sleeping more soundly. You might also enjoy some cosmetic changes in your face and smile. All these benefits are general, but the benefits you experience from myofunctional therapy can only be known after a comprehensive examination with Dr. Grabiak and our team.