Difficulty breathing during the day (e.g. mouth breathing) or at night (e.g. sleep breathing disorders) can often be attributed to an airway dysfunction. Sometimes it’s caused by a physiological underdevelopment as is often the case for those with TMJ disorder, and other times it’s caused by an obstruction. Often, people are affected by both and often those cases can see varying degrees of improvement by practicing simple exercises such as mewing and myofunctional therapy.
What is Myofunctional Therapy?
Myofunctional therapy is an exercise-based therapy designed to reduce jaw pain, help orthodontics stay in place, and help improve breathing. This physical therapy for the mouth, tongue, and face muscles can help strengthen and retrain the tongue and other muscles. By retraining resting posture of these muscles, patients can eliminate bad habits while also learning to implement healthier ones.
Mewing, Explained
Mewing is the practice of positioning the tongue at the roof of their mouth. By firmly pressing the tongue into this position, tension is created which encourages proper tongue posturing. People who hold their tongue in this position have fewer issues with airway obstruction by the tongue while they sleep and see less reliance on mouth breathing.
These Exercises At Work
One of the most significant contributors to airway dysfunction are the muscle groups near the airway. The goal of these simple exercises is to retrain the patient to use the muscle groups around their airway in a more sustainable, healthy way.
The tongue, for example, can experience significant movement restriction in cases of tongue-tie. This restricted movement can lead to a blocked airway during sleep and a preference for mouth breathing.
Benefits of Myofunctional Therapy and Mewing
The therapy techniques described above can be great noninvasive treatment options for patients with dysfunctional airway conditions such as sleep apnea. But they can also be used in other applications.
- Preventing sleep-disordered breathing
- Developing and strengthening the tongue and other muscles of the mouth and face
- Teaching patients to breathe through their nose
- Building a habit of resting the tongue in an ideal position
- Alleviating TMJ symptoms
Learn More About the Best Treatment Options for You
For more information about myofunctional therapy and mewing, and whether these treatments could be effective for your individual needs, contact our office at 703-323-8200 to schedule a consultation with Dr. Pamela Marzban.
