What is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT)?
Muscle weakness within the tongue, mouth, and upper throat can lead to snoring, obstructive sleep apnea, and shifts in the position of your teeth. Myofunctional Therapy is like physical therapy for the mouth and face muscles; these exercises strengthen the tongue. Dentists are particularly concerned about the movement of teeth when the tongue pushes against them. Your tongue normally rests with its tip on the hard palate behind your front teeth. A weak tongue can press against your teeth causing them to move and shift, requiring further dental work.
We work with patients who have concerns with snoring or sleep apnea, speech problems, mouth breathing, crooked teeth from swallowing wrong or tongue ties.
Myofunctional Therapy helped my swallowing and breathing.
Goals of OMT
When we recommend this treatment to patients our goals are to:
- Correct tongue posture
- Correct mouth posture – no open lips
- Correct nasal breathing
- Correct swallowing
Benefits of OMT
Among the many benefits of OMT are:
- Better airway development
- Normalizing oral function and improving sleep disorders
- Correction of oral dysfunction
- Guiding craniofacial growth
- Relieving orofacial pain
- Minimizing ortho relapse
- Replacing dysfunctional habits with healthy, functional patterns
Signs and Symptoms that You May Benefit from OMT
If you or your child is experiencing any of these symptoms, your dentist may refer you to our OMT specialist, Alisha Shuhr, RDH, OMT.
- Diagnosis of ADD or ADHD that does not improve with medicine
- Never feeling rested
- Chronic allergies or sinusitis
- Teeth extracted for orthodontics
- History of wearing headgear
- Enlarged tonsils
- Snoring
- Drooling
- Wear on teeth
- Crooked teeth
- Difficulty closing lips
- Mouth breathing
- Difficulties with speech
Check our Patient Forms page for relevant questionnaires and a doctor referral form.