Posted by NW MYOFUNCTIONAL THERAPY on Feb 25 2023, 01:43 AM
Myofunctional therapy involves a variety of exercises that strengthen and increase the mobility of the lips, cheeks, and tongue. This therapy is often recommended in conjunction with orthodontic treatment. The muscles surrounding your mouth play an important role in moving your teeth. Correcting misalignment often requires permanently moving one or more teeth. Without proper muscle function, your teeth may not move as they should.
Many patients also seek this treatment to improve postural problems, such as forward head posture. Poor posture can lead to a variety of health problems, some of which may require treatment beyond orthodontic care. For example, some patients with poor posture may suffer from temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ). As a common symptom of TMJ disorder is neck pain, many patients benefit from receiving orthodontic treatment and myofunctional therapy at the same time. This is because both of these treatments can alleviate similar symptoms.
Some patients may also receive myofunctional therapy prior to braces or Invisalign® aligners. This therapy can help prepare the mouth for the realignment process by improving the strength and function of the muscles in the jaw. As a result, the bite will be aligned correctly before the teeth are moved into place with orthodontics. In some cases, myofunctional therapy can even help shorten the length of a patient’s orthodontic treatment.
Myofunctional therapy focuses on training the tongue, lips, and facial muscles to work better together. The goals of treatment are to:
If left untreated, poor tongue position can restrict breathing while sleeping and lead to the development of other health concerns.
By retraining the muscles in the face to work together properly, myofunctional therapy can improve dental health as well as alleviate symptoms of sleep apnea.
If you’ve been considering orthodontic treatment, you may want to look into myofunctional therapy alongside traditional orthodontics. This noninvasive alternative to braces and orthodontic appliances can offer many benefits, including:
After years or decades of being misaligned, many patients feel self-conscious about their teeth and their smiles. With traditional orthodontic treatments and advanced techniques like Invisalign®, you can finally achieve a beautifully aligned smile. But what about your oral functions and performance as a whole? That’s where myofunctional therapy comes in!
Myofunctional therapy focuses on correcting improper oral habits such as tongue-thrusting, lip-pursing, mouth breathing, and other poor oral movements that negatively impact your overall dental health. By treating the root cause of these issues—poor oral habits and misalignment of the jaw—myofunctional therapy helps patients avoid the need for more advanced treatments like braces, Invisalign®, or surgery.
NW Myofunctional Therapy is equipped with modern amenities and technologies that enable the best treatment opportunities. To know more, please call us at (206) 276-5294, schedule an appointment online or email us at info@nwmyofunctionaltherapy.com to have a consultation with our team in Portland, OR, and we will be happy to help.
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