How Does Myofunctional Therapy Help with Facial Pain and Teeth Clenching?

Your entire tongue, including the middle and back of the tongue, are meant to live up in your palate. When the tongue doesn’t do this because of low muscle tone, or can’t do this because of a tongue tie, your body may compensate by bracing the facial muscles or by clenching the teeth together. This is because your tongue is meant to act as a springboard to stabilize the lower jaw during the day and keep your airway open at night.

Over time, this tension or clenching can lead to chronic facial or jaw pain, tension headaches or migraines, and even TMJD.

Myofunctional therapy can help by strengthening the tongue and repatterning the muscle memory so that the tongue lives upward in the palate by default. We also teach the facial muscles to relax and dial down now that the tongue is doing its job. Sometimes we work with a functionally trained dentist to address the tongue tie if it inhibits progress in therapy. When the tongue rests on the palate, diaphragmatic breathing becomes much more natural, which has great benefits for the nervous system.


How Does Myofunctional Therapy Help with Mouth Breathing?

Your entire tongue, including the middle and back of the tongue, are meant to live up in your palate. When the tongue doesn’t do this because of low muscle tone, or can’t do this because of a tongue tie, one of the results can be mouth breathing. The tongue is meant to act as a “spring board” and stabilize the lower jaw and keep your airway open. When the tongue rests low, this adds to the weight of the lower jaw. The result for some people is open mouth posture and mouth breathing.

Mouth breathing is related to:

  • Dental problems such as tooth decay and periodontal disease

  • Poor jaw development in growing children

  • Fatigue from poor oxygenation 

  • Poor quality sleep 

  • Sympathetic dominance and anxiety

In myofunctional therapy, we strengthen the tongue and the lips to create proper oral rest. We also work on conditioning to make nasal breathing easier, and troubleshoot nasal congestion that contributes to mouth breathing. When the tongue rests on the palate, diaphragmatic breathing becomes much more natural, which has great benefits for the nervous system.