What is Myofunctional Therapy?

Myofunctional therapy or orofacial myofunctional therapy is an exercise-based therapy that addresses the root causes and corrects dysfunctional muscle patterns of the face. The four goals of myofunctional therapy are to establish your tongue's proper resting position, promote optimal nasal breathing, improve lip seal, and correct dysfunctional swallow patterns. Our specialized practice targets these muscle groups to restore proper function and create lasting neuromuscular connections.

Who can benefit from myofunctional therapy? Anyone at any age who is struggling with mild sleep apnea, snoring, mouth breathing, grinding or clenching, swallow dysfunction, temporomandibular joint disorder (TMD), thumb sucking, asthma, allergies, or pre/post frenectomy prep. Restorative sleep, efficient breathing, proper growth and development of the face and jaws, and overall well-being can all be achieved through myofunctional therapy.

Why is Myofunctional Therapy Important When Having a Frenectomy?

If you or your child is considering having a frenectomy, a.k.a. frenulectomy, it is best to see a myofunctional therapist first. A myofunctional therapist will guide you on exercises and stretches designed to target the key muscles of the tongue. By engaging these muscles and strengthening the tongue before a release, the outcome of the surgery will be a better success. After your tongue is released, it is important to continue seeing your Myofunctional Therapist for additional exercises and best practices of healing.

One of the main goals of myofunctional therapy is proper tongue resting position. This includes placing the entire tongue (the tip, middle, and back) onto the roof of the mouth. The true success of the frenectomy can only be measured when the tongue can comfortably hold this position. Your myofunctional therapist focuses on this goal, so together, with consistency and motivation, this goal is easily met.

Preparing these muscles prior to a release directly impacts the success of the procedure because the exercises and stretches enable the tongue to start using muscles it may have never used before.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea’s Ugly Stepsister: Central Sleep Apnea

All judgment aside, please: occasionally (okay, okay…often) during my son’s hockey practice, some of us parents meander a block away to the restaurant which happens to have a lovely bar. We sit, we chat, we have a drink… maybe two, if you’re lucky. Usually, it’s just that. Casual, light-hearted fun to pass the hour outside of a cold, dingy hockey rink.

One time, however, it was different; it was a meaningful, heartfelt, and sometimes wrenching conversation that started when I casually mentioned to the mother of another player that I was a dental hygienist and “Oh, by the way, I also do this weird myofunctional therapy thing.” She asked some questions, and one thing led to another and to an admittance: Her daughter had sleep apnea. It wasn’t the sleep apnea we dental hygienists/myofunctional therapists are used to dealing with; it was central sleep apnea.

Essentially, central sleep apnea means your brain tells you not to breathe, as opposed to obstructive sleep apnea, which is pausing in breathing due to your airway being blocked off anatomically. As the mother recounted all the signs, symptoms, unknowns, doctors’ visits, surgeries, recoveries, and day-to-day management of Chiari Malformation (her child’s official diagnosis), I couldn’t help scouring my brain for how I could help. 

Obstructive sleep apnea is often due to (or exaggerated by) a lack of muscle tone in the tongue and throat, meaning your tongue falls back into your throat and blocks your airway. Obstructive sleep apnea can be caused or exacerbated by many things, including but not limited to enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids, mouth breathing/open mouth posture, deviated septum, tongue-tie, underdeveloped jaws, allergies, etc. Myofunctional therapy, when paired with surgically correcting anatomy if necessary, can help improve all these causes with exercises to increase tonality and restore proper function.

On the other hand, central sleep apnea has only a neurological root. For those with Chiari Malformation, brain tissue may be compressed, causing issues in transmitting cues to breathe from the brain to the diaphragm. We help sleep apnea all the time! It felt frustrating to know sleep apnea so well and realize this was a totally different beast.

Learn more about myofunctional therapy in treating obstructive sleep apnea here. For more information about Chiari Malformation and how it relates to sleep apnea in children, consult this article in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Management.