Myofunctional Therapy & Interceptive Orthodontics
Training the tongue to straighten your teeth
Myofunctional Therapy
It is an exercise-based treatment for orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMD). The aim is to teach the patients exercises that relate to tongue placement, breathing, chewing and swallowing. These exercises target the face, neck, and mouth’s soft tissues to reach optimal tongue position and oral rest posture.
These if properly instilled in a child goes a long way in natural development of jaw and proper tooth alignment . Myofunctional therapy also plays a part in treating sleep apnoea , snoring disorders and irritability due to unknown causes in children . Early myofunctional therapy can help your child avoid expensive and painful wear of braces in future.
Who needs it?
Kids with:
- Mouth breathing:Someone who always breathes through the mouth or has difficulty breathing through the nose.
- Limited tongue movement.
- Messy or difficult eating habit. Keep in mind that it is normal for babies to stick their tongue out and push food out of their mouth. Over time, they do this less.
- An overbite, underbite, and/or other dental problems.
- Tongue thrusting: The tongue pushing past the teeth, even when a person is not talking or using the tongue.
- Difficulty saying some sounds, like “s” in “sun,” “sh” in “ship,” or “j” in “jump.”
- Drooling, especially beyond age 2.
- Difficulty closing the lips to swallow.
- Sleep apnoea.
- Teeth grinding
- Chronic tonsilitis
How does it help?
The treatment creates an individualized program to retrain your orofacial muscles and improve function. Exercises include normalizing the resting posture for your tongue and lips, establishing nasal breathing patterns, or eliminating harmful habits like thumb-sucking.
The treatment creates an individualized program to retrain your orofacial muscles and improve function. Exercises include normalizing the resting posture for your tongue and lips, establishing nasal breathing patterns, or eliminating harmful habits like thumb-sucking.
Interceptive Orthodontics
Guiding tooth eruption and correction of abnormal bite by early intervention in order to improve future dentition. Early orthodontic intervention can prevent more extensive treatment later. It is typically performed in kids between ages 7- 11 years old.
Who needs it?
Kids with:
- Overbites and underbites
- Crossbite (misalignment of back teeth caused by a constricted palate)
- Jaw irregularities (unevenness in upper and lower jaw)
- Narrow dental arches (from thumb-sucking and pacifier habits)
- Early loss of primary teeth with drift of adult teeth
- Family history of impacted teeth (teeth that got stuck somewhere in mom or dad’s mouth)
- Protruding teeth at risk for trauma or causing social distress (teasing)
How does it help?
- Can prevent extraction of permanent premolars
- Shorten treatment time with comprehensive orthodontics
- Improve facial balance and soft tissue growth
- Prevent trauma or social issues related to front positioned front tooth/ crowded front tooth
- Prevention of impacted or ectopic tooth