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About MFT

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT) is a type of therapy that focuses on retraining the muscles of the face, mouth, and tongue to function properly. It aims to correct issues related to breathing, chewing, swallowing, speech, and even facial posture.

What is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT)?

Myofunctional Therapy is the "neuromuscular re-education or re-patterning of the oral and facial muscles" that helps treat orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs). These dysfunctions may be termed “Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders” (OMDs), “Soft Tissue Dysfunction”, “Tongue-Thrust Swallow”, “Infantile Swallow” or “Reverse Swallow”.

It’s the treatment of over 100 different interconnected muscles involved in the craniofacial-respiratory complex. It involves targeted face, lip, tongue, jaw, postural, breathing exercises, and other therapeutic activities.

4 Goals of
Myofunctional Therapy

This therapy includes facial and tongue exercises and behavior modification techniques to promote

Nasel Breathing
Proper Tounge Rest Posture
(in light suction resting on the palate)
Lip Seal
Correct Swallowing Patterns

What are the aims of OMT?

The broad aims of OMT are to:

Modify behaviors
Eliminate noxious oral habits
Strengthen tongue
Oropharynx and lip musculature
Correct tongue posture
Decrease muscular tension
Establish bilateral chewing and correct drinking
Posterior teeth together swallow
Harmonious peri-oral muscle pattern
Lip seal and nasal breathing patterns.

How long does orofacial Myofunctional therapy take?

Treatment usually consists of a regular program of exercises over a 4-12 month period, although length of treatment may vary.
Our OMT treatment for adults is provided in four stages of therapy, with each stage requiring approximately 2-3 months to complete.

The stages of therapy are:

Intensive/habit elimination phase (weekly sessions),
Function repatterning phase (fortnightly sessions),
Orofacial systems synchronisation phase (sessions every three weeks)
habituation phase (monthly sessions).

Sessions are 20-25 minutes in length and your daily input at home is 5-7 minutes three times a day.

Myofunctional Therapy UK will assist you in achieving goals, with a blend of therapies that in addition to OMT incorporate:

Breathing re-education
Sensory integration
Cranio-Sacral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Trigger Point Therapy
TMJ therapy

What age is Myofunctional Therapy for?

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMDs) can occur across the lifespan, affect people of all ages, and can be found in infants, children, adolescents, and adults.
The treatment of OMDs varies based on the age and/or cognitive ability of the patient.

While myofunctional therapy works better for children because their bones are rapidly growing, this treatment is still incredibly beneficial for adults, too.

Your body is always changing, and the jawbone is one of the most dynamic bones in the body.

Myofunctional therapy keeps everything working properly and prevents functional problems from occurring in the jaw.

Delaying treatment has serious consequences. Early Prevention and intervention bring vital rewards and save money for families.