Myofunctional Therapy

We use myofunctional therapy to help with airway-related issues, especially malocclusions. This is a specialized field of dental therapy that can help with many issues without surgery or medications. That is one of the many reasons that Dr. Lesko loves to offer this to her patients.

To learn more about myofunctional therapy and how our office can help you use it to improve your health, we invite you to call us today!

What is Myofunctional Therapy?

Oral myofunctional therapy is like physical therapy, but for your mouth and airway. It is a series of exercises that our myofunctional therapists will guide you through and have you complete at home. 

Myofunctional therapy can help with:

• Obstructive sleep apnea
• TMJ pain
• Airway issues such as asthma
• Swallowing and speech disorders

We work with you to determine if you need myofunctional therapy, and how much. Sometimes you only need to do it a couple of times a week, sometimes every day. Most often, we guide you through exercises you do at home, and you don’t have to come into our office very often.

Treating Sleep Apnea with Myofunctional Therapy

Myofunctional therapy for sleep apnea can help strengthen your airway and soft palate, supporting the muscles that can prevent airway collapse. As your muscles are strengthened, their engagement while you sleep will improve. This encourages them to hold up your airway and soft palate, so your airway remains open.

When you do myofunctional therapy for sleep apnea, we will track improvements and can adjust your treatment plan as necessary. We can also couple myofunctional therapy with other treatments such as lifestyle adjustments. Myofunctional therapy takes time to work and do its job, so you will notice improvements in your sleep in a couple of weeks after you start it.

As a bonus, it can help manage headaches and jaw pain associated with sleep apnea.

Oral Myofunctional Therapy Exercises

We can recommend some exercises that you can do at home, even if you don’t get to come into our Westside neighborhood office. Do all of these exercises sitting up straight, with good posture.

• Tongue Push Ups | Place your tongue on the ridge just behind your teeth, and hold for 5–10 seconds before releasing. Repeat up to 10 times.
• Vowel Practice | Practice saying vowels (AEIOU) while keeping your tongue elevated. Use nasal breathing between each vowel.
• Tongue Clicking | Place your tongue on the alveolar ridge and pull it down quickly, creating a clicking noise. Repeat 10–20 times.

Our myofunctional therapist can demonstrate these and more if you come in for a myofunctional therapy appointment.

Why Choose Us for Myofunctional Therapy?

Our office is one of the only offices in the Fort Collins area that offers myofunctional therapy for sleep apnea. This makes us able to uniquely serve you and your health.

All members of our care team are trained on myofunctional exercises and can help you get started with oral myofunctional therapy as part of your airway care. We can integrate it into your TMJ or sleep apnea care approach to give you effective results.

FAQs

Does myofunctional therapy hurt?

Oral myofunctional therapy doesn’t hurt. It might cause a bit of muscle fatigue or even soreness in extreme cases, but the actual exercises won’t cause pain. They may feel a bit unfamiliar initially, though.

How often do I need to do myofunctional therapy?

We recommend that you complete the exercises every day, but you won’t need to visit our office every day for work with your myofunctional therapist. We will set up routine visits to evaluate your progress, but we will work with your schedule.

Do physical therapists do myofunctional therapy?

Dentists and myofunctional therapists are trained to do myofunctional therapy, but some physical therapists can as well. If you need to improve your airway health, we recommend visiting an airway-aware dentist such as Dr. Lesko.

Reach Out for Myofunctional Therapy in Fort Collins

Our Westside office in Fort Collins is here to help you with your airway concerns. Our myofunctional therapy can improve your life without medication or surgery. Call our office to get started on this amazing treatment!