Do You Have Jaw Discomfort?

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Can help

  • Clicking, Cracking, or Crunching
  • Locking
  • Minimal Range of Motion

  • Discomfort, Tension, or Stiffness
  • Earaches or Tinnitus
  • Clenching or Grinding Your Teeth

Oral and facial muscle/tissue tension can put a lot of stress on the jaw. Balancing these muscles by toning, relaxing, and retraining neutral posture can soothe the stress your jaw is under. 

Creating new muscle memory with easy exercises can create comforting change far into the future. 


 We work in tandem with highly rated specialists with top of the line technology when referrals are needed.

Beneficial Jaw Positioning

Jaw in Neutral Resting Posture

Prevents Long Face Syndrome11,16,23

Well Defined Cheekbones

Well Developed Jawline

Straighter Teeth

Well Developed Upper Nasal Airways

Better Posture19,20,21
Balanced Toning of the Facial Muscles and Tissues37
Can Help Prevent Snoring and Apnea Episodes23
Growth Hormone Activation31,32,33

Removal of Daily Repetitive Habits that Involve the Mouth

Opens the Airway42

Removes a Cause of Malocclusion39,41,43

Prevents Ortho Relapse: Teeth crowding after braces are completed19

Tongue in Neutral Resting Posture

Prevents Mouth Breathing and the Many Detrimental Health Problems that it Causes19...

Prevents Excessive Tongue Force on the Teeth  During Swallowing17,18,19

Prevents Teeth Grinding & Clenching19

Facial Symmetry

Muscles & Tissues of the Face are Toned Symmetrically37

Creates a Well Developed Jawline & Cheekbones11,16,19,23

Relaxes the Jaw & Symmetrically Tones the Jaw Muscles11,16,19,23

Causes of Jaw Discomfort

Soft Food Diets = Shrinking Jaws36

"The shrinking of the human jaw in modern humans is not due to genetics but is a lifestyle disease that can be proactively addressed, according to Stanford research."36
Soft Food Diets: Growing up on softer foods prevented the exercise that they jaw muscles need for proper bone growth. 
Tougher, crunchier foods exercise the jaw muscles which strengthens, widens, and enlarges the jawbone, accommodating the teeth. This widens the roof of the mouth giving the jaw better freedom to move.36

Lips Open During Rest

Postural Problems: Mouth breathers tend to assume a characteristic posture, carrying their heads forward in order to compensate for the restriction to their airways to make breathing possible.20

The forward head posture often leads to: muscle fatigue, neck pain, tension in the TMJ area, spinal disc compression, tension headaches, and dental occlusal problems.21

Causes Long Face Syndrome11,16,19,23

Crooked Teeth

Narrow Jaw & Face

Jaw Set Back

Daily Repetitive Habit Involving the Mouth

Open Bite36

Narrow Jaw37,40,41

Vaulted Palate41

Long Face Syndrome37,40,41

Unsymmetrical Face37,40,41

Jaw Pain Due to Incorrect Habitual Movement Patterning19

Tongue in Atypical Resting Posture

Tongue-Tied (Ankyloglossia): The tongue has a varying degree of restriction, a minimal range of motion which causes the muscles and tissues in the head and neck region to over-compensate. This has many side-effects:25,26,27,28,29,30

Can effect: Speaking, eating, and swallowing

May compensate with grinding teeth at night

May cause jaw pain

Untoned/Untrained Tongue

The tongue acts as a natural palate expander when in the correct position. When resting elsewhere, the palate narrows and vaults, crowding the teeth and making the nasal cavity smaller17,18,19

The tongue from the tip to the posterior needs to be toned to rest in the palate. Most tongues are flaccid/untoned, which can cause snoring and apnea12

The tongue, even when untoned, is still 8 strong muscles. Resting incorrectly puts tremendous of pressure against oral structures that don't have the strength to resist17,18,19

Incorrect Swallowing Habit

Crowded/Crooked Teeth17,18

Open Bite or Other Malocclusion 17,18

Unexplained Tooth Mobility19

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What is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy?

The mouth, head, and neck are a complex weave of muscles, tissues, joints, bones, blood vessels, and nerves that all need to work together for a smooth, discomfort-free daily function.


We are born and grow with little direction and training in this area of our bodies. We eat the way we eat, we chew on the side that is most comfortable, we swallow whichever way gets the food down, our tongues rest wherever they rest, we breathe the easier way, and we have repetitive habits that soothe our stress that can involve our faces and mouths.


All of these reflexive habits can create abnormalities in our oral and facial structures, and since we have been doing them throughout youthful growth, our bones and muscles have molded around these untrained habits, potentially creating ingrained disorders in our current and later years.


Orofacial Myofunctional Therapists specialize and only focus on the muscles and tissues throughout the tongue, jaw, face, head, and neck. Weekly exercises are given that either tone or relax these muscles and tissues aligning them to your center. Working from your foundation up, we progressively reset years of habits. Most individuals will complete the program within the year and yet your new symmetry could last your lifetime.


A Stanford University Systematic Review Revealed The Lasting Beneficial Effects Of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy In A Wide Cohort:

“Current literature demonstrates that orofacial myofunctional therapy decreases apnea-hypopnea index by approximately 50% in adults and 62% in children. Improvements to snoring and daytime sleepiness. Shown effective in children and adults of all ages studied thus far; youngest patient 3 yrs old to 60 yrs old. Therapy has an important role in preventing relapse.”48

Benefits of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy

  • Soothes some headaches

  • Can help reduce snoring & apnea

  • Opens upper airways

  • Eases long face syndrome

  • Alleviates facial pain

  • Improves posture & core muscle stability

  • Increases jaw range of motion

  • Tones facial muscles & tissues

  • Improves focus & memory

  • Lowers harmful stress hormones

  • Relieves digestive discomfort

  • Plus much more

Sources

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