Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy UK
Advocating for Airway-Centred Dentistry
Advocating for Orofacial Myology in the prevention and treatment of
Oral, Dental, and Airway Disease.
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT also known as Orofacial Myology). It is a “neuromuscular re-education or re-patterning of the orofacial muscles” that helps treat orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs).
OMDs can directly and/or indirectly affect:
🚩Sleep 🚩Breathing 🚩Chewing 🚩Swallowing 🚩Speech 🚩Breastfeeding 🚩TMJ 🚩Facial Aesthetics 🚩Orofacial skeletal growth and development 🚩Dental occlusion 🚩Dental health 🚩Muscle therapy for Orthodontic stability and more.
Most OMDs originate with insufficient habitual nasal breathing or mouth breathing.
The four main goals of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy are:
▪︎ Nasal breathing (day and night)
▪︎ Lips together at rest (day and night)
▪︎ Correct tongue posture at rest (tongue to the roof of the mouth)
▪︎ Correct Swallowing
The therapy includes facial and tongue exercises and behaviour modification techniques to achieve these four goals.
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy has been used for decades to repattern and change the function of the oral and facial muscles and to eliminate poor oral habits, such as prolonged thumbsucking and nail-biting, tongue thrusting, open mouth at rest posture, incorrect mastication and poor oral rest postures of the tongue and lips.[1]
Physicians, dentists, and orthodontists have also used myofunctional therapy as an adjunctive non-invasive treatment of temporomandibular joint disorders (TMJD).
This specialized treatment is suitable for children, adolescents, adults, and special needs patients.
At Myofunctional Therapy UK, we work in close collaboration and refer to other clinicians such as:
▪︎ ENTs ⇲
▪︎ Dentists ⇲
▪︎ Allergy and Immunology Doctors ⇲
▪︎ GP's ⇲
▪︎ Sleep Physicians ⇲
▪︎ Speech and Language Therapists ⇲
▪︎ Nutritionists ⇲
▪︎ Midwives ⇲
▪︎ Osteopaths ⇲
▪︎ Breathing Practitioners ⇲
At Myofunctional Therapy UK, we combine a range of
Therapy Treatments in our unique clinical protocols
We are the only Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Centre in the UK to blend:
Evidence Based Practice (EBP)
Myofunctional Therapy to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis:
"Myofunctional therapy decreases apnea-hypopnea index by approximately 50% in adults and 62% in children."
Lingual Frenuloplasty With Myofunctional Therapy: Exploring Safety
and Efficacy in 348 Cases
Amelioration of mouth breathing (78.4%), snoring (72.9%), clenching (91.0%), and
myofascial tension (77.5%).
"Children with breathing problems like snoring, mouth breathing, or apnea are 40–100 times more likely to develop behavioral problems resembling ADHD.
American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Management of the developing dentition and occlusion in pediatric dentistry. 2022:
"Treatment considerations: "Habit treatment modalities include patient/parent counseling, behavior modification techniques, myofunctional therapy, appliance therapy (extraoral and intraoral), or referral to other providers..."
"Conclusions: OMT had the following positive effects in treated patients:
(a) a significant reduction of pain sensitivity to palpation of all muscles studied but not for the TMJs;
(b) increased measures of mandibular range of motion..."
