Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) is a specialized therapy that retrains and balances the muscles of the face and mouth — including the tongue, lips, and cheeks — to improve breathing, swallowing, chewing, oral rest posture, and speech. It involves targeted techniques, functional tasks, exercises, and tools customized to each patient's needs, with the goal of establishing correct muscle function and posture for long-term health and communication outcomes.
Nasal breathing, lips together at rest, and tongue resting on the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth.
Eliminate tongue thrust and abnormal swallow patterns.
Improve the ability to chew, manage, and move food and liquids efficiently, without facial tension or abnormal muscle patterns
Correct speech disorders caused by abnormal oral muscle patterns
Chronic mouth breathing can lead to dry mouth, dental issues, sleep apnea, and even changes in facial development over time. Therapy will retrain and habituate nasal breathing for optimal health.
When the tongue pushes against or between the teeth during swallowing or speech, it can cause lisping, an open bite, and orthodontic relapse. Targeted therapy retrains the swallow pattern and corrects tongue posture for lasting results.
A tongue tie occurs when the band of tissue connecting the tongue to the floor of the mouth is too short or tight, restricting movement. Orofacial myofunctional therapy is an essential part of both pre- and post-operative care for a lingual frenectomy, helping prepare the muscles before the procedure and retrain the tongue afterward for optimal results.
OMT is a recognized adjunct therapy for snoring and mild-to-moderate sleep apnea by strengthening the airway muscles.
Muscle imbalances are a leading cause of orthodontic relapse. OMT before and after braces addresses the underlying muscle patterns to support long-term alignment and protect your orthodontic investment.
Incorrect oral muscle patterns and low tongue posture can contribute to temporomandibular disorder (TMD), teeth grinding, clenching, and neck tension. Orofacial myofunctional therapy addresses the root muscle
imbalances that drive these symptoms.
Low tongue posture, tongue tie, or muscle dysfunction are often at the root of persistent articulation errors, lisping, and difficulty pronouncing sounds like "t," "d," "n," "l," "s," "z," "sh," "ch," "th," and "r." Both the function and the speech pattern are addressed.
Therapy can address picky eating or mild oral sensory-based feeding issues due to difficulties with chewing, swallowing, or oral motor function.
Thumb sucking, finger sucking, pacifier use, nail biting, tongue sucking, and mouthing of objects can alter tongue posture and breathing patterns. These habits are addressed with compassionate, behavior-based strategies.
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.