Myofunctional Therapy Treatment Options

The path of therapy will vary from provider to provider, but one thing will always be the same. We are here to treat your disorders and we will customize the treatment for the patient.

The most common treatment option for someone with advanced myofunctional dysfunction such as tongue-tie, orthodontic issues, snoring or sleep apnea is comprehensive therapy. This comprehensive therapy traditionally is a year long and covers many different areas of therapy. A majority of therapists are trained with this treatment philosophy and it is a very sound philosophy. Many patients are in need of one year of therapy and there isn’t any way around it.

However, I know there are therapists who also realize that some treatment and education is better than not having any at all. I am of this mind, when it comes to my treatment philosophy. While I always stress that comprehensive care is the preferred form of treatment, I also have treatment options that are less than one year. I offer these plans for a couple of reasons.

First, a year of therapy is a huge commitment and is often overwhelming to patients. I find that my Phase I therapy program suits a lot of patients, and many continue on to the full year program.

Second, Phase I therapy gives the patient time to make sure the therapy is meeting expectations and that they like and trust me as a therapist.

And third, I am fortunate enough to work with specialists who won’t complete a tongue-tie release or put a patient in braces until they have received some myofunctional therapy. Because I feel that some treatment is better than none, and because I believe it to be far more detrimental to prolong the tongue-tie release or the orthodontics,

I do offer smaller treatment programs, with the understanding and intention that the patient will continue with comprehensive myofunctional therapy as soon as they can. These patients who opt for a shorter program completely understand the benefits of comprehensive care and the necessity for the completion of full therapy. Some therapists would disagree with me, but I liken it to a dental office. Say your dentist gives you $3000 of dental work to be done, but you can’t afford it all right now, or might have some other commitments but would like to get started now and do the most important treatment now. No dentist in their right mind is going to say “Nope, you can’t start until you can do it all.” They are going to allow you, within reason, to guide your own treatment and they will help you choose the biggest priority first. I practice the same way.