Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy is a personalized form of therapy that focuses on the muscles and functions of the mouth, face, jaw, and airway.
Understanding How the Muscles Work Together
Your tongue, lips, cheeks, jaw, and facial muscles are designed to work together. When those muscles aren't functioning efficiently, it can contribute to patterns like mouth breathing, improper tongue posture, tongue thrusting, difficulty keeping the lips closed, inefficient chewing or swallowing, jaw tension, and other oral habits.
At Snohomish Myo Relief
At Snohomish Myo Relief, we work on retraining these patterns so your body can function more efficiently, not simply teaching you a list of exercises.
Myofunctional Therapy Can Help
Myofunctional therapy can help with mouth breathing and poor nasal breathing habits, improper tongue resting posture, tongue thrusting and atypical swallowing patterns, oral habits such as thumb or finger sucking, snoring or sleep-related breathing concerns, jaw tension, clenching, and certain muscle related discomfort, and supporting functional recovery following a tongue-tie release.
For Children
For children (3+): health oral function starts early. Myofunctional therapy can help identify and address dysfunctional habits and patterns that may affect breathing, swallowing, tongue posture, sleep, and facial development. The earlier we recognize these patterns, the more opportunities there may be to support healthy function as a child grows.
For Adults
For adults: it's never too late to work on function. Whether you've struggled with mouth breathing for years, wake up feeling unrefreshed, clench your jaw, have persistent tongue - posture issues, or have been told you need to "fix your tongue posture" therapy can help you understand why these patterns are happening and what you can do about them.
Business Review
"I’m so thankful for what Brianna at Snohomish Myo Relief has done for me so far. I’ve been struggling with mouth breathing, teeth grinding, and snoring for years, and it was taking a toll on my sleep and daily life. Brianna is kind, supportive, and really took the time to understand what I needed. The exercises she gave me were specific to my needs, easy to stick with, and I started noticing results pretty quickly. Now I breathe through my nose without thinking about it, I sleep better, and I don’t wake up with jaw pain and a dry mouth anymore. It’s made a huge difference in my health. Working with Brianna has been easy and life changing - I can't recommend her enough!" - RJ W.
"I am so grateful for Snohomish Myo Relief! Brianna is helping me with a variety of problems relating to my airway and tongue tie, including sleep apnea, teeth grinding, and mouth breathing. In a short amount of time, the exercises have helped my breathing, stress levels, and sleep! We are going to start working the exercises with my son too. He has a speech disorder due to his tongue tie and I am excited to see the results work for him as well. Brianna is helpful, caring, and extremely knowledgeable about her field of work. Highly recommend this practice to anyone struggling with airway issues!" - Jessica B.
"I was diagnosed with sleep apnea back in 2017 but had issues with it well before then. Since then, I've run the gauntlet of treatment. CPAP, sleep position, drugs and, most recently, a custom fitted jaw advancement device. Each treatment had its own issues that I had to deal with. Constant cleaning and replacement of filters and equipment for the CPAP, side effects of drugs, neck and shoulder pain from trying different sleep positions and jaw pain and popping with the jaw advancement device. On top of all of that, the cost was staggering. When I met Brianna, I was on the brink of submitting myself to the fate of always having some problem I'd have to deal with regarding my sleep apnea treatment. I was ready to give up seeking something better. I'm glad I didn't.
At first, as with all the previous treatments, I was skeptical. Brianna's deep knowledge of how our jaw and everything around it interacts clued me in that this might be worth the time and effort. After beginning the exercises she gave me, I began noticing almost immediate changes. I began to smell things better, breathe deeper and deal with the jaw pain brought on by the jaw advancement device. This made me redouble my effort into pursuing this treatment and taking it seriously.
With each appointment, Brianna went over my progress, explained the purpose of each exercise and tailored each set of exercises to what I needed. She truly listened to me and knew just what to do to help me. The tracking app she uses is extremely helpful in working the exercises into your daily routine. I was easily able to work them into my daily life with minimal interruption. For the first time since I started treatment for my sleep apnea, I felt like I actually had control over something.
Fast forward to a little over a month into my treatment and my progress was amazing! My jaw wasn't hurting anymore! The popping went away and my tongue began to rest where it is supposed to! In fact, just a few days ago, and with some encouragement from Brianna, I decided to try sleeping without my jaw advancement device. I was hesitant at first. After all, I hadn't been able to sleep without the aid of some kind of device in almost a decade. I thought I was going to maybe nap for a few minutes and wake up gasping for breath like I had in the past before my diagnosis. To my surprise, I woke up the next morning feeling fine! I had slept the entire night without the aid of a sleep device! It had been over a decade since I had been able to do that.
The change is almost unreal to me. I understand, thanks to Brianna's patience and knowledge, how it all works but to be able to sleep and breathe without aid or issue is something I thought I'd never experience again in my life. Regardless of your financial position and health coverage, this treatment is worth every penny if you suffer from orofacial issues. I will happily pay for treatment from someone who actually knows how to help than go into debt for band-aid solutions.
Brianna is amazing. Trust her knowledge. Trust the process. Give it a shot! You will not regret it, I promise you." - Jason S.
