Midwest Myofunctional Specialists

When you get interruptions to your breathing and interruptions to your sleep you dont get good quality deep stage 3 sleep. This stage of sleep is is important for the release of growth hormone. This hormone plays a role in immunity as well as growth and development.

🚩 🚩🚩 Mouth breathing, noisy breathing & snoring

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Learn more at www.thebreatheinstitute.com

Snoring, mouth breathing, and noisy breathing are signs of obstructed sleep apnea.

Studies have demonstrated the efficacy of Orofacial Myology in reducing snoring and apnea.

Improper tongue posture can affect the development of the face, the position of your teeth, and your breathing.

Proper tongue posture involves resting the tongue up ⬆️ against the palate.

1. The tip should rest just behind the front teeth, but not touching them.

2. The middle and posterior sections should be in contact with the roof of the mouth.

3. The teeth should be slightly apart, and the lips should be closed.

Maintaining this posture can help with proper nasal breathing, optimal dental and facial development.

Where does your tongue rest when you are not speaking or eating?? 👅👅

Learn more at www.thebreatheinstitute.com

If you or a loved one is affected by these conditions, please reach out to us for assistance.

July is National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness Month, a time to increase understanding and support for individuals and families affected by these conditions. Check out our latest newsletter for information on the impact cleft/craniofacial abnormalities have on speech production and feeding/swallowing. https://mailchi.mp/2a465d3fa0c7/adults-6435886

If you or a loved one is affected by either of these conditions, we can help!

People with cleft and craniofacial abnormalities may have muscle weakness, as well as feeding and speech needs. We can help!

July is National Cleft and Craniofacial Awareness Month.

The craniofacial team at Gillette Children’s includes craniofacial and pediatric plastic surgeons, neurosurgeons, dentists, orthodontists, orthotics, speech-language pathologists, advance practice nurse practitioners, audiologists and other providers who’ve been carefully selected because of their specialized training in their respective fields to support children.

Learn more gillette.mn/craniofacial

Happy Independence Day!

July is National Cleft & Craniofacial Awareness Month. Cleft lip and palate may result in the need for treatment by a speech-language pathologist in the areas speech, feeding and swallowing.

10 Common Questions About Cleft/Craniofacial Management Answered When it comes to cleft/craniofacial conditions, several questions—including when to begin articulation treatment—can create challenging management decisions for speech-language pathologists during assessment and intervention. Some questions have been around for decades. As part of Cranio...

Tongue-ties can have a varying level of restriction, which in turn can cause other issues from articulation to feeding and swallowing.

We have to recognize that tongue-tie is only one aspect of the problem.

We need to be looking at
👅tongue posture
😄chewing
😋swallowing
🥤diet
🥦nutrition
😮mouth breathing
👍habits
👉genetic factors and more

The goal is to understand that tongue-tie is a piece of the puzzle and different elements need to be considered to help patients in each and every stage!

tonguetone

The progression of low tongue posture. The earlier the intervention, the faster the results.

Discovering the impact of low tongue posture can lead to early interventions 👃👅😴

Learn more at www.thebreatheinstitute.com
And/or email [email protected] and schedule a consultation with one of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapists !

June is National Dyphagia Awareness Month - While often associated with older adults, dysphagia also affects a considerable number of children. Check out our latest newsletter for more information: https://mailchi.mp/849a360be74b/adults-6249742

Did you know this fact about Dysphagia in children?

June is Dysphagia Awareness Month.

Dysphagia is defined as “difficulty swallowing,” though it includes difficulties starting with the oral prep phase of the swallow all the way down to the esophageal phase.

Did you know this fact about Dysphagia in the younger population?


Citation: Arvedson, 2008; Bernard-Bonnin, 2006; Brackett, Arvedson, & Manno, 2006; Burklow, Phelps, Schultz, McConnell, & Rudolph, 1998; Lefton-Greif, 2008; Linscheid, 2006; Manikam & Perman, 2000; Rudolph & Link, 2002

Let's sprinkle some success in your goals!

Tongue thrust can result in speech difficulties and orthodontic issues. Babies with this posture will likely also have it as they get older. The earlier treatment is initiated, the easier it will be to remediate.

Oral Posture in an Infant

If you say the phrase “tongue thrust”, those of us who have heard it will think about the impact it has on speech issues and on orthodontic success/failure.

I’ll do my best to give you all a brief tutorial on tongue posture. First and foremost, it’s important to understand that there are no good peer-reviewed studies linking tongue tie and tongue thrust. It’s becoming more common for speech pathologists (essentially those trained in myofunctional therapy/orofacial myology) to understand the connection between the two (pun intended). A tongue’s normal resting position is up and forward within the oral cavity with the lips closed. This allows a person to breathe comfortably through the nose, which is the more efficient way to breathe (the nose warms and humidifies air, making oxygen exchange easier). The ideal resting position for the tongue is against the palate, behind the central incisors.

In the setting of tongue tie, especially during breastfeeding, the most important movement that is impeded is UP towards the palate (not OUT like most people think). A person can have completely normal protrusion of the tongue out of the mouth and still be tongue tied. Remember what I’ve said previously about a person’s health timeline - if a baby is tied then it makes sense that the tie will affect that child as they get older. Tongue thrust in the setting of tongue tie is not an unexpected consequence of untreated ties.

I’m going to personify a tongue for the purposes of illustration: If I’m a tongue, I desperately want to go up in the oral cavity. I can see the palatal sweet spot and i want to reach reach reach it. But the tie is keeping me down. That sweet spot isn’t just straight up though - it’s up and ahead of me just a bit. In my efforts to reach up, I’m also reaching forward. In the setting of tongue tie, however, my up movement doesn’t work. My forward movement may still be functioning, so the net effect is that I move forward. Voila - tongue thrust.

Believe it or not, we can see this in infants too. Look at the picture attached here. This baby’s normal resting posture is to have the lips parted with the tongue forward. I’m not talking about mouth posture when the baby has a cold or congestion - I’m talking about everyday tendencies. When I see a mouth like this in an infant, I immediately think 2 things: 1) that baby probably has a tongue tie; and 2) that baby may also have significant nasal congestion (this could be from a high palate, enlarged adenoids, or both). Keeping in mind that the majority of babies I evaluate are tongue tied (it’s a self-selecting group after all), I’d estimate that about 25% of the infants I evaluate have this sort of oral posture. This is the infant version of tongue thrust. And if they’re doing this as infants, I’ll guarantee you that they’ll do this as they get older. It can result in speech difficulties and orthodontic problems like overjet or an anterior open bite. And it’s much harder to treat as the child gets older (in my opinion, the tongue release must happen with myofunctional therapy).