Orofacial Myology

Orofacial Myology, also called “Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (OMT)”, sounds like a mouthful (pun intended)! OMT is just a fancy name of giving exercises for your face, tongue and jaw. OMT has been used for many years to repattern and change the function of oral and facial muscles. While manual therapy is our main tool as osteopaths, these exercises are a great adjunct that often help improve symptoms quicker towards a resolution.

Why would we give you exercises for your face, tongue and jaw?

If you think about the key functions of this area, it is a very busy area of your body! The aim is to improve patterns, strength & coordination of the face and mouth muscles to support their prime functions of breathing, speaking, chewing and swallowing. Every time you talk, eat, swallow, and breathe, a complex system of orofacial muscles is involved. The tongue alone has 8 muscles and is seen as the architect of the growing mouth as it is so active. When these muscles have been poorly functioning, we need to reduce poor habits and compensation by strengthening and changing movement patterns for the better with exercises.

What things might Orofacial Myology exercises assist with?

Some people need help for pain or tension; for others, it might be a function such as poor saliva control, mouth-breathing with difficulty keeping the lips closed, sleep disordered breathing or trouble swallowing tablets and eating certain foods. Other reasons people might require Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy might include tongue tie rehabilitation, alongside orthodontic treatment or speech therapy, or after ENT surgery.

What signs and symptoms would indicate orofacial myology exercises?

This is obviously a complex area and, in many cases, involves a multidisciplinary team approach that may include dentists, speech pathologists, ear nose and throat surgeons, allergy testing and sleep studies along with your Osteopath. Some of the common things people present with and lead us to consider OMT are;

• Tongue thrust

• Mouth breathing habit

• Snoring or sleep disordered breathing

• Jaw tension, pain, clicking, or movement concerns

• Teeth grinding or clenching

• Face pain or Tension Headaches

• Thumb sucking or Finger-sucking

• Dummy use past infancy

• Neck and head postural dysfunction (forward head carriage opens a narrowed airway)

• Poor saliva control, or spittle

• Lisp and mechanical speech disorders

• Crooked teeth, Orthodontics or High palate

3 of our osteopaths at BFO, Tristan, Kirsten and Anita, have done extra study to learn about orofacial myology, and can assess, treat and prescribe exercises for your face, lips and tongue.