What are orofacial Myofunctional disorders?

Orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMDs) are patterns involving oral and orofacial musculature that interfere with normal growth, development or function of orofacial structures, or call attention to themselves (Mason, n.d.A)

OMDs can be found in children, adolescents and adults.

OMDs can co-occur with a variety of speech and swallowing disorders.

OMDs may reflect the interplay of learned behaviors, physical/structural variables, genetic and environmental factors (Maspero, Prevedello, Giannini, Galbiati & Farronato, 2014)

Signs and Symptoms

• Infant feeding problems

• Articulation problems

• Dental abnormalities

• Drooling and poor oral control past 2 years of age

• Mouth breathing

• Open mouth posture

• Orthodontic Issues

• Picky eating habits

• Problems with chewing and swallowing

• Sleep issues

  • snoring

• Teeth grinding

• Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Dysfunction

• Finger/Thumb/Tongue Sucking

• Tongue Thrust (abnormal tongue rest posture)

• Tethered Oral Tissues

  • Tongue tie

  • Lip tie

If you or your child have any of these symptoms, contact us today.

What causes OMDs?

No single cause, but anything that causes the tongue to be misplaced at rest limits lingual excursions within the oral cavity, makes it difficult to achieve acceptable lip closure, and reduces or impedes the ability to obtain and maintain correct oral rest postures could lead to an OMD.

Assessment and Treatment of OMDs

Assessment is often conducted in an Interdisciplinary Team consisting of speech-language pathologists, feeding specialists, dental professionals, body workers, etc.

The main areas treatment include:

• establishing a patent nasal airway and correct oral rest posture

• improving speech sound articulatory placement

• elimination of nonnutritive sucking

• strengthening lip-tongue-throat muscles

• ensuring safe swallow of saliva, liquids and solids