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Practicing Exclusively in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Which Oral-Facial Disorder Can We Help You Soothe?
Just one oral-facial habit, stressed muscle, or tense tissue being consistently used in an atypical way can irritate the complex balance that is your head, neck, face, and jaw. This can cause:
- Chronic headaches
- Jaw discomfort
- Head/neck/facial pain
- Grinding
- Clenching
- Atypical facial symmetry
Some causes of sleep disordered breathing are; An untoned tongue, untoned upper airway, mouth breathing and adverse oral habits.
The Advantage Program professionally guides you through easy exercises that clear your airway and re-trains sleeping patterns.
If you experience any of the following, you may benefit from a visit with us.
- Snoring: Mild to severe
- Apnea
- Paused breathing or gasping during the sight
- Rarely save a good sights rest
- Brain fog, hard to concentrate
- Mouth is dry when you wake
Retraining certain reflexive (currently unconscious) activities/behaviors can put a stop to most air swallowing. The Advantage Program can help you relieve many digestive discomforts:
- Stomach aches
- Burping
- Flatulence/gas
- Bloating
- IBS
- Acid reflux
Breathing through your mouth as opposed to nose during exercise and rest deprives your muscles from much needed oxygen. This causes muscle cramps, dehydration, longer recovery, higher chance of injury and a low endurance ceiling.
The Endurance Advantage Program coaches you to find your natural optimal athletic advantage.
- Increase your cardio endurance ceiling
- Reduce frequency of muscle cramps
- Help maintain the heart rate in the zone
- Increase Your VO2 Max
When we consistently place something in the way of the teeth and oral structures, the anatomy will slowly form around this obstruction, disturbing the oral-facial symmetry, like a tree will form around a fence that is in its growth path.
The Habit Elimination Program can help you put a stop to your habit once and for all.
- Nail biting
- Hair mouth play or chewing
- Thumb / finger / Lip sucking
- Cheek biting
- Atypical jaw movement
- Other
Switching from mouth to nasal breathing augments brain function, defines your jawline, strengthens your immune system, lowers your blood pressure, and enhances core muscles.
The Advantage Program coaches you through easy exercises to help you make nasal breathing a habit. If you experience any of the following, we can help.
- Getting sick more often
- Prone to cavities and Gum disease
- Tired a lot
- Brain fog, Memory loss
- Asthma
- Neck discomfort
- Snoring / Sleep Apnea
- Decreased sexual desire / erectile dysfunction
What is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy?
The mouth, head, and neck comprise a complex network of muscles, tissues, joints, bones, blood vessels, and nerves that must harmoniously work together to ensure seamless and comfortable daily function.
From birth and throughout our growth, we receive little direction and training in this crucial area of our bodies. Our eating patterns develop naturally, we chew on the side that feels most comfortable, we swallow in whichever way gets the food down, our tongues rest wherever they find rest, we breathe through the easiest pathway, and we develop repetitive habits that offer stress relief, often involving our faces and mouths.
All of these reflexive habits can lead to abnormalities in our oral and facial structures. Since we have practiced these habits during our formative years of childhood, our bones and muscles have adapted to accommodate them, potentially resulting in entrenched disorders.
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapists specialize in and exclusively focus on the muscles and tissues in the tongue, jaw, face, head, and neck. Through weekly exercises tailored to your needs, we aim to either tone or relax these muscles and tissues, bringing them back into alignment. By starting from your foundation and progressively resetting years of ingrained habits, we can restore balance. Most individuals will complete the program within a year, and the effects of this can last a 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
Book a Free In-Person Consultation with an Orofacial Myologist Today
Benefits of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy
Soothes 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