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Symptoms

Do these Signs and Symptoms Look Familiar?

Do you recognize these?

Changes in facial development, ADD and ADHD like symptoms, dry mouth which can cause cavities.

Not sleeping through the night, bruxing, and enuresis.

Long face adversely affecting sleep and oxygen intake.

Usually associated with mouth breathing and not being able to breathe through the nose.

Tongue thrust? Low forward tongue posture? Tongue-tie? Lip-tie? Improper nasal breathing.

Caused by poor tongue posture, prolonged digit or pacifier sucking habits, nail biting, and etc?

Improper chewing and swallowing patterns.

Tongue is visually forward during eating, drinking, speech or at rest. Possible posterior tongue-tie.

Due to improper tongue tip placement or posterior tongue seal.

Obvious tightening of lips and/or facial tension when swallowing. Lip incompetence – Lip Ties.

Improper swallowing of air causing bloating, burping or hiccups? GERD?

If you experience any of the symptoms, it means that you may benefit from training your facial muscles with ‘myo therapy’, also known as oral facial myology therapy.

teens-myofunctional-therapy

If early diagnosis is not corrected:
Teens and Pre-Teens

Poor Facial development

Under or over developed jaws

assymetry

Mid-face deficiency, Long Face syndrome

Food issues

Texture – stomach problems

Prolonged treatment with braces

And dental treatment

Tongue thrust

Tongue pushing against teeth

Delayed speech

And/or language development – Lisp and other sounds

ADD and ADHD-Like Symptoms

Bad breath, poor hygiene, low self esteem

Feeling anxious, depressed, moody or irritable

If untreated these OMD's will continue into adulthood and other areas of the body and begin to form health issues because the muscles do not want to compensate anymore.

Adult Symptoms

What causes Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders?

It is often difficult to identify a single cause for an orofacial myofunctional disorder. Most disorders involve a combination of factors that may include:

  • An airway restriction from enlarged tonsils or adenoids, allergies or anatomical deviation involving the nasal cavity or pharynx.
  • Improper oral habits such as thumb or finger sucking, cheek or nail biting, teeth clenching or grinding.
  • Neurological and sensorineural developmental delays or abnormalities.
  • Structural or physiological abnormalities such as short lingual frenum (tongue-tie)
  • Hereditary predisposing to any of the above factors

Certified Orofacial Myologists are trained to perform Habit Elimination Therapy

Habit Elimination Therapy uses positive behavioral modification techniques. These techniques make therapy easy, rewarding and fun. There are no negative appliances in the mouth and the therapy usually consists of 3-4 session. Most important, it boosts your child’s self-esteem.

Orofacial Myologist go through an extensive certification process through the IAOM to become a Certified Orofacial Myologist (COM). Be sure your therapist has their certification by checking the IAOM Directory of Orofacial Myologist.

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teeth grinding or clenching

Bruxism

Bruxism is the medical term for the grinding of teeth, the clenching of jaws or lock jaw that and often happens during sleep or stressful situations.

Periodic grinding of your jaw can cause serious oral health problems including excessive wear of the tooth and Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ).

Primary causes of bruxism are stress and anxiety.  Once it becomes a habit, it can be hard to stop.

With Mild Bruxism, most patients recognize they are clenching or grinding and it typically happens at night. Symptoms include cheek and lip biting, hypersensitive teeth, some enamel wear, and clicking or locking of the temporomandibular joints.

With more Advanced Bruxism, most patients have serious jaw disorders, headaches and more extreme enamel loss or fracturing of the teeth.

Becoming more aware of your habits and suing exercises designed for reducing or eliminating. bruxism, you can take control of your clenching and grinding. Awareness assessments help you to address both the root cause and steps to prevent you from continued grinding. Myofunctional Therapy can be an effective way to tailor a plan specific to your needs to normalize the jaw muscle and joints, as well as other muscles along the side of the head.

Take care of your oral health

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