Problems with the Mouth
Oral Facial Myology. The muscles of your face and mouth and the problems they can create.
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Breathing
The purpose of our nose is to breathe, and yet many of us are mouth breathers. Our mouths hang open, drying out at night and creating bad breath among other negatives to our health. Mouth breathing has become so common we associate it with normal, but Nasal breathing is normal and optimal for our health. Do you or your children have difficulty with nasal breathing? Let’s find the source and retrain your nose for its original purpose and keep your years ahead looking bright.
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Tongues
Did you know that your tonuge is made up of 9 muscles? It has multiple functions to help you breathe, eat, swallow and talk? Did you know that can be weak and lack strength like other muscles in your body? Did you know it can be restricted in its range of motion and function? Do you know where its normal placement should be at rest? Did you know that therapy can help you with tongue function and improve facial strain, TMD, headaches, messy eating, speech problems, speaking and eating fatigue, and contribute to better nasal breathing? Let’s get nerdy and see if your tongue is causing any problems.
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Lips and Face
Are you lips parted at rest? Is it difficult to close them? Do you use your teeth to clear a utensil? Do you have facial pain or tension in your face, mouth or neck when you talk, sing or eat? Do you feel fatigued after a full day of talking? Is eating difficult or messy? Do you avoid hard to eat foods? We tend to overlook our facial strain, especially if it’s been life long, many of us don’t know what we are missing. Let’s connect some dots and find the source of what you could be missing out on…no pain.
What is an oral facial myology disorder?
Oral Facial Myology Disorder (OMD’s) are atypical or abnormal movements of the mouth (oral) and face (facial) due to the various structures of the face. As we develop, our hard tissues (bones) shape our face and mouth with our nasal cavity, palate, dental development and any malocclusions in our bite that a dentist or orthodontist corrects with hardware such as braces. Our soft tissue development (muscles and oral structures) such as our togues, lips, cheeks, soft palate and throat can also impact our bone development as well as our ability to breathe. Obstructive sleep apnea is on the rise in our culture, while our jaws are getting smaller over time due to our processed food (easy to chew) diets, and bottle/pacifier/thumb sucking use is influencing our mouth development. Restrictions to our oral tissues can influence how much range of motion we have in our lips and tongues and can have an impact on their function and where they move or stay at rest. If we can’t move our tongues to clear food from our teeth, push food to our teeth for chewing, lick our lips, lift our tongue tip to the roof of our mouths for speech productions and proper swallowing we end up with problems. Our compensatory strategies for these limitations cause stress for other muscles and lead to less than optimal productions, strain and pain that take a tole over time. Do you think you might have an oral facial myology disorder that is impacting your ability to breath, eat or talk? Most often intervention is geared for ages 4+ these issues can also impact infants and toddlers. If you have concerns that your child is on the path to an OMD, you don’t have to wait until they turn 4 to get help for them or for yourself. Connect with Little Stories to learn more about an assessment and treatment options and get your questions answered.
