Does Your Child Have Facial or Jaw Pain?

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Can help

"If mouth breathing is treated early, its negative effects on facial and dental development, along with medical and social problems associated with it, can be reduced or averted"11

Children are in a state of growth. There are many reasons for Facial/Jaw discomfort. Most are because the muscles or boney structures and teeth are not balanced. This balance can be thrown off by breathing through the mouth, the tongue thrusting against the teeth while swallowing, sleep disordered breathing, a tongue that is attached too tightly to the floor of the mouth, or a daily repetitive habit involving the mouth.


The Oral-Facial Advantage Program uses toning of the muscles and tissues of the mouth and face to bring your child's growth into alignment. Balancing their muscles guides the bone during growth. While they are still growing, they are more malleable, anatomically, and behaviorally, locking in muscle memory at a young age.


Re-start your child's foundation on a more solid footing.

These Are The Many Causes Of Facial & Jaw Pain

The Advantage Program Designs Your Child's Program to Their Needs

Unhealthy Breathing Pattern

Mouth Breathing

Mouth Breathing Can Cause Restrictions in the Airway21,20,23

Causes Long Face Syndrome11,16,19,23

Crooked Teeth

Narrow Jaw and Face

Poorly Defined Cheekbones

Tired Eyes

Jaw Set Back

Smaller Airway

Underdeveloped Nasal Airway

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

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

Upper Chest Breathing

We are designed to use our diaphragm to breathe. Breathing with our upper chest puts strain on our backs and necks which can cause pain39

Can contribute to stress, anxiety, brain fog, and poor body oxygenation24

Causes shorter shallower breaths, which is directly related to increasing blood pressure24

Gas exchange is hindered: the entire lung is not used when upper chest breathing, preventing efficient gas exchange.24 Poor oxygenation can cause:35

Nervous System: Feeling faint, headache, migraine, numbness or pins and needles, difficulty tolerating light, dizziness and unsteadiness

Muscular: Cramps, muscle pains, stiffness, tremors

General: Weakness, fatigue, poor concentration, impaired memory and performance, sleep disorders, night sweats, brain fog, allergies

Sleep Disordered Breathing

Places the jaw in muscle and tissue-stressing positions21

Prevents deep sleep which can cause headaches/migraines12 and prevent the release of Growth Hormone31,32,33

Causes dehydration which puts stress on the muscles and tissues22,46

Negatively affects oxygen levels which strains the cardiovascular system4,12,24,35

An open mouth can cause sleep disordered breathing even if breathing through the nose. The soft palate, when the mouth is open, can block the nasal breathing passageway12

Damaging Oral Resting Postures

Tongue Settles in Atypical Area of the Mouth

Incorrect Tongue Resting Posture: Can cause the palate to narrow and vault, 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 untrained/untoned, which can cause snoring and apnea.35,36

The tongue, even when untoned, is still 8 strong muscles. Resting incorrectly puts a lot of pressure against oral structures that don't have the strength to resist.17,18,19

Ankyloglossia (tongue-tied): When 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

Incorrect Swallow Pattern

Tongue Thrust17,18,19

Open Bites & Malocclusion17,18

Daily Repetitive Habit Involving Their Mouth

Thumb/Finger/Lip Sucking, Nail, Cheek, Tongue, Hair, or Object Chewing...etc.

When we consistently place something in the way of the teeth and oral structures, the anatomy will slowly form around this obstruction. Like a tree will form around a fence that is in its growth path36,37,38,39,41

Can cause vaulted palates narrowing therefore shrinking the nasal canal and sinuses causing nasal congestion.37,38

Open bites, narrow jaw, long face syndrome, unsymmetrical face36,37,38,39,41

Can cause sleep disordered breathing12

Putting the jaw in a repetitive incorrect position can cause severe muscle/tissue/joint strain19

Narrow Jaw & Palate, Crooked/Crowded Teeth

Soft Foods=Shrinking Jaws

Stanford University Article, Shrinking Jaws:36

"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 researchers."
"One obvious factor is the softening of diets, especially with the relatively recent invention of processed foods. Also, less chewing is needed nowadays to extract adequate nutrition..."
"The proper development of the jaw and its associated soft tissues is guided by oral posture – the positioning of the jaws and the tongue during times when children are not eating or speaking. This positioning is especially important overnight during long sleep stretches, when swallowing maintains the correct, gentle pressures."

What is Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Capable Of? 

At Oral-Facial Advantage, we guide your child's growth towards a more balanced oral-facial foundation. Aiding to prevent, or soothe the many disorders you see through-out this website.


Reflexive vs. Conscious

We chew, swallow, breathe, and rest our mouths as an un-trained reflexive habit. 

The Oral-Facial Advantage Program is a personalized straightforward set of exercises, scientifically designed to build new beneficial long-term muscle-memories.


At What Age Can My Child Begin Oral-Facial Muscle Therapy?

The younger the child the more flexible their physiology and behavior. 


Mature 3 to 4 year old mouth breathers can learn nasal breathing.

Mentally prepared 5 year old's can begin the Oral Habit Elimination Program.

7 to 8+ year old's can start their Oral-Facial Advantage Program.


Who is Eligible for a Free Consult?

Everyone.

All ages can come in for a free consult. 


It is a great opportunity for your questions to be answered, and for the Orofacial Myologist to assess your child's readiness for the program.

Book a Free In-Person Consultation Today

See the Difference. 
Make a Lasting Impact on Your Child's Health Today:

Benefits of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy

  • Soothes or relieves headaches

  • Can help reduce snoring & apnea

  • May reverse some ADHD symptoms

  • Opens upper airways

  • Can prevent long face syndrome

  • Alleviates facial pain

  • Improves posture & core muscle stability

  • Increases jaw range of motion

  • Facial symmetry: Tones facial muscles & tissues

  • Improves focus, memory, productivity

  • Lowers harmful stress hormones

  • Relieves digestive discomfort

  • Eliminates habits involving the mouth

  • Much more

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.


Currently, 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 your child's oral and facial structures, and since they have been doing them throughout their youthful growth, their bones and muscles have molded around these untrained habits, potentially creating ingrained disorders in their 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 child's center. Working from their foundation up. Progressively resetting years of habits. Most children will complete the program within the year and yet their new symmetry could last their 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

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