There is way more than genetics that dictate our health. Our environment, habits, lifestyle and stress levels will effect how we live in this world and how we raise our children. And OUR habits become THEIRS.
So make sure your habits are functional and healing so theirs will be too!
What is Myofunctional Therapy?
Myofunctional therapy is like physical therapy for your face. It involves daily exercises that help promote optimal growth patterns in children, or re-training and re-educating adult facial muscles to activate properly. The goals are to get you nasal breathing day and night, maintain proper tongue position and lip seal at rest, and to initiate the proper swallowing pattern.
It has the potential to prevent future decline in health, reduce pain, and improve your energy, appearance and family life by impacting your sleep, stress levels and mood.
Why is it so Important?
The BEST:
* Speech Language Pathologists- Will prefer clients who had myofunctional therapy to improve their oral-motor skills prior to therapy, as it will create greater results.
* Periodontists or Oral Surgeons– will never do a tongue tie release without myofunctyional therapy (we must strengthen the tongue and build endurance, otherwise it could scar improperly or reattach- making it worse) You would never expect someone recovering a broken leg to run a marathon!
We cannot live without Breath or Digestion.
They should be the first place we begin with health....Yet they are not usually considered????
Pay attention if you have any of the following symptoms:
Child Development/ Pregnancy
* Snoring and/or Mouth breathing
* Aversion to food, Reflux
* Crowding of teeth, Cavities
* Thumb sucking/ Prolonged pacifier use
*Difficulty breastfeeding, Tongue/lip ties
* Behavioral or Speech Issues
* Bed wetting, night terrors
* Infertility
* Stress/ anxiety
Need more Resources: Scroll to the bottom
Pain Relief
* TMJ Disorders/Headaches
* Clenching/Grinding
*Chronic Pain, fibromyalgia
* Ear aches, Ringing/ Vertigo
* Diabetes
* Reflux/Bloating
* Chronic Disease
* Gum disease/ Cavities
* Tongue Tie
Need more Resources: Scroll to the bottom
Sleep
* Mild or Moderate Apnea
* Non-compliance with CPAP
* Snoring
* Insomnia
* Dry Mouth
* Mood Swings/Anxiety/Fatigue
* Night waking (to pee or drink water)
*Large tongue with scalloped borders
* Excessive drooling
Need more Resources: Scroll to the bottom
You should always listen to your body. When you don’t feel right…. you are probably right!
Your body is sending you signals that something needs to be addressed. You do not ignore the check engine light on your car, why are you ignoring the ones from your body?
Myofunctional Therapy is what you need to help you Look, Feel, Think & Perform Better.
Unfortunately until recently, most people waited to see a myofunctional therapist until they had literally tried everything else.
Have you heard this before? or Does this sound like you?
Doctors insist there is nothing wrong (because their symptoms are not extreme enough to fall into the disease category where they can rely on pharmaceuticals or surgical interventions.)
They are told they do NOT have a tongue tie,….. but they actually DO. Or it has never been considered before. It is very herd to understand a posterior tongue tie, let alone to diagnose one, and Most professionals are not educated on the tongue (even ENTs and dental professionals)
They have been to massage, chiropractic and physiotherapists for chronic pain, and still rely on pain meds to get them through the day (without addressing the tongue- which is not in their scope and its actually connected to our toes, of course pain comes back).
Their sleep study comes back normal, despite the fact that they snore, have anxiety and/or wake up unrested, so they accept that their sleep is fine. Or worse- they need a CPAP but don’t wear it (Myofunctional therapy can improve sleep apnea events by 50%)
They have been told its normal to suffer pain while breast feeding, babies to have reflux, children to have crowded teeth, ADHD, and ear and throat aches. That children grow out of tongue ties and food aversions and that its ok for children to breathe from their mouth. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!!
They are given a bite/night guard for grinding and told nothing can be done about the TMJ, jaw clicking, popping, or teeth grinding until surgery in the future can correct it.
They are told they need a lingual wire or to wear a retainer for life after braces. (if you don’t correct the muscles that are moving the teeth, of course you need to correct all the damage you do during the day by wearing a retainer to push them back into place at night)
They need acid reflux meds for life because they have too much stomach acid. (this is often misunderstood and easily corrected)
So when I say "It's not all in your genetics", this is what I mean:
I create proper function which creates optimal growth and development
I do this for kids because,
I don’t want your child to suffer through school with a reduced capacity to learn, concentrate and focus.
I don’t want your child to experience poor sleep and snoring and be placed on stimulants for a misdiagnosis
I don’t want your child to have delayed growth patterns and wait until they are teenagers to move their teeth into better occlusion.
I don’t want your child to be a victim of bullying.
I don’t want to treat your suffering child in 20 years because it takes more time and is harder to reverse the problems, than to prevent them in the first place.
I do this for kids because,
I want to help your child
*have the same shot at success as their peers,
*to prevent the long term effects if not addressed now, and
*to build a family bond and happy environment
What People Are Saying
Myofunctional therapy with me involves a series of exercises to improve coordination, activation, resistance, strength and endurance of facial muscles which have over aching health benefits.
Therapy involves coaching on Nutrition, Breathing, Chewing and Swallowing, Lip and Tongue placement, Sleep and Posture
Process involves an assessment (that can be completed by an oral health professional with knowledge in orofacial myofunctional therapy). A consult to determine type of program(s) for your needs, what other health modalities you may require, and the therapy- which may involve 8-20 sessions (4-12 months).
Services are accepted by most insurance carriers and are tax deductible.
Habit Elimination Program: to eliminate thumb sucking, prolonged pacifier or sippy cup use, nail biting, other noxious habits.
Acute TMJ Program: to provide pain relief by stabilizing the jaw, relaxing the muscles, and eliminating habits that contribute to pain, while reducing inflammation of the jaw joint and facial muscles.
Standard Myofunctional Therapy: Full therapy and coaching that focuses on the proper growth and development of children, or addressing the form and function through neural re-education for better health, pain relief, increased energy and improved quality of life.
Payment plans available and Family & Group discounts available.
“You saved my life. my doctor advised I was days away from a massive heart attack. You recognized the symptoms and referred me for a sleep study. I have never felt better”
“In less than 2 weeks, I lost 2 inches, without dieting or exercise. My son and I are now continuing the program together”.
“I have been to the ENT for years and have been in physiotherapy, but you helped my pain go away, I cannot wait to keep going with this”
“My snoring has reduced after just 3 sessions”
“I did the therapy along side my child so she would be more likely to do her exercises. Unexpectedly- I get better sleep and I look better (it was like botox)”
“I just feel free…. I don’t know any other way to explain it?”
Testimonies of Time and Wisdom
“We are just beginning to realize how common and varied are vicious habits of the lips and tongue, how powerful and persistent they are in causing and maintaining malocclusion, how difficult they are to overcome and how hopeless is success in treatment unless they are overcome” -Edward H. Angle aka-father of modern orthodontics (Treatment of Malocclusion of the Teeth (Ed.7), Philadelphia: S.S. White Manufacturing company, 1907)
“As guardian of health the nose … performs invaluable services in preventing diseases of the lungs, as it frees the inhaled air from impurities. … All breathing should, therefore, be through the nose, and none whatever should be done through the mouth.” Theodore Hoppe- The Naturopath and Herald of Health
“The man knows not the pleasure of sleep, he rises in the morning more fatigued than when he retired at rest, he takes pills and remedies during the day and renews his disease every night he sleeps” – George Catlin
Catlin notes: “I have seen an Indian woman in the wilderness, lowering her infant from the breast, and pressing its lips together as it falls asleep, and fixing its cradle in the open air.” ” In comparison, the civilized whites, when sleeping with the mouths open, changed the facial structure, causing a retraction of the chin and derangement and deformity of the teeth, and the disfigurement of the mouth and the whole face.” (Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life. Catlin, 1870, p.47)
“A perfect man breathes as if he is not breathing” – Lao Tzu