Orofacial Myofunctional Disorders (OMDs) are disorders of the muscles and functions of the face and mouth.
An OMD involves behaviors and patterns created by inappropriate muscle function and incorrect habits involving the tongue, lips, and jaw which can be due to nasal airway problems due to enlarged tonsils/adenoids and or allergies, prolonged sucking/biting habits, structural or physiological abnormalities such as short lingual frenum (tongue tie), hereditary predisposition to some of the above and neurological or developmental abnormalities. An OMD can cause speech problems, which are not likely to diminish until the airway and incorrect resting posture of the tongue, face and lips and sucking/biting habits are eliminated. During rest, an incorrect positioning of the tongue and lips consisting of an open mouth low forward resting position of the tongue against and between the teeth can contribute to improper orofacial development and misalignment of the teeth. Prolonged sucking/biting habits can also have a harmful effect on the growth and development of the orofacial development as well as speech.
Symptoms:
Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder symptoms include abnormal lip, jaw or tongue position at rest, difficulty swallowing, messy, open-mouthed eating, open-mouthed rest posture, or struggle with speech. Children may have prolonged oral habits such as thumb, finger or pacifier sucking, or nail-biting. Bloom specializes in effective, personalized orofacial myofunctional therapy.
treatment:
Positive orofacial myofunctional therapy outcomes include a normalizing posture of the mouth, tongue, and lips at rest, nasal breathing patterns, proper chewing and swallowing, ending harmful oral habits such as teeth-grinding, and supporting proper speech development.