Treating Patients with Mouth Breathing Habits: The Emerging Filed of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy

ABSTRACT:

Currently in the United States there is no formal license or degree program in orofacial myofunctional therapy. Other countries, such as Brazil, have a more formal university program with licensure. Now with awareness of muscular causes and habits as being one of the causes of TMD, OSA, and orthodontic relapse, the literature is showing that orofacial myofunctional therapy does help, when it is monitored and organized in a systematic program that incorporates habit elimination, a sequenced exercise protocol and in some cases, Buteyko breathing exercises. Therefore, more dentists are seeking this treatment for their patients. This paper will explore why orofacial myofunctional therapy is now becoming an accepted modality used in a multi-disciplinary team for many health care concerns.

After years of private practice and adding Buteyko⁴ breathing exercises to our treatment plan for those patients who have a mouth breathing habit, orofacial myofunctional therapists are hearing success stories from their referring physicians and dentists. For years, many felt the studies were not strong enough for physicians and dentists to support adding this treatment to their patient’s treatment plans.

But, with a significant number of dentists adding additional revenue streams to their practice and a growing number of sleep physicians being inundated with patients who are not able to wear the CPAP and comply with recommendations to wear a dental sleep appliance, orofacial myofunctional therapy is gaining recognition as another possible alternative solution or adjunctive treatment. We need more studies because the field of sleep medicine, according to some researchers, may bankrupt our healthcare system, as we know it today.