Most Common Myofunctional Therapy Exercises

Dental Health is a very important aspect of your overall health. Myofunctional therapy is a form of therapy for your mouth, neck, and face. It helps strengthen facial muscles and is often prescribed for individuals who have developed bad oral habits.

Myofunctional therapy Toronto is growing popular, with both kids and adults. Dentists often prescribe it as a preventive measure or an additive to enhance existing treatment. When dentists notice symptoms of mouth breathing, they often prescribe this therapy. Breathing through the mouth is alright during a workout, but long-term it can have many problems like dry mouth, sore throat, sleep apnea, tooth decay, and more. In children, it causes issues with their skeletal structure as well.

Here are a Few Issues Associated With bad oral hygiene that this form of therapy treats:

Grinding of teeth
Problematic facial skeletal growth
Thumb sucking
Dry mouth, tooth decay, bad breath, and gum diseases
Misalignment of the Shoulder and neck
Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction
Speech problems
Chronic Headaches
Snoring and sleep apnea

The goal of Myofunctional Therapy is to help patients regain their confidence and their time as they develop healthy habits again. The approach taken is mostly physical exercise paired with breathing exercises.

The Most Common Myofunctional Therapy Exercises

If you’re wondering what kind of exercises you might have to do with Myofunctional therapy in Toronto, here are a few of the most common ones. Your therapist would give you a customs number of repetitive sets and exercises as per your issues, which is not the same for everyone.

Tongue push-ups: You’re asked to position the tip of the tongue against the roof of your mouth, right behind the front teeth. You then have to push upwards and hold for a few seconds like a push-up. Repeat according to instructions. The common set is 10 repetitions.
Vowel Practice: You’re asked to say each vowel out loud, that is a, e, i, o, u. You have to practice this consistently for a few minutes, a few times a day to help with speech issues.
Tongue clicking: Here, you’re told to use your tongue to create a clicking sound by pushing the tongue against the roof of the mouth. You can repeat this for 15 seconds and in sequence about 10 times a day.
Nose touch: Here, you have to stick your tongue outside your mouth and try to touch the tip of your nose with your tongue. Hold the tongue in that position for 10-15 seconds, and repeat it as per instructions.
Chin Touch: With this exercise, you need to push your tongue out and try to touch the bottom of your chin with it. Hold your tongue like this for 10 seconds and then repeat.
Side-Side Hold: Take your tongue out of your mouth and move it as far as you can to the left. Hold it for 10 seconds and then rest. Then do the same with the right side. Do this in sequence for 10 sets on each side.
Sing/ Deep Breathe: This is a fun exercise for anyone to do. All you have to do is sing! Singing uses muscles in the face, mouth, soft palate, and throat and can help reduce snoring. You can also do deep breathing exercises to breathe through your nose.