Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy for Children

What is orofacial myofunctional therapy?

Think of it as physiotherapy for the muscles around the mouth. A short daily routine of simple exercises trains the tongue, lips and cheeks toward one target position: lips closed, tongue resting against the roof of the mouth, teeth slightly apart, breathing through the nose.

The position matters for growth. Low tongue posture reduces the natural widening forces on the upper jaw, and mouth breathing contributes to longer, narrower facial growth patterns. Narrow jaws then restrict airway space. Habit retraining while a child still grows gives the jaw room to develop.

Signs your child may benefit

Mouth open at rest, during the day or in sleep

One sign alone proves little. A pattern across several gives us a reason to look closer. Raise snoring with your paediatrician too.

How we assess your child

Every standard exam at JuniorDental includes a full airway evaluation. Our dentists look at jaw width, tongue posture, palate shape and breathing patterns, then watch how your child swallows and holds the lips at rest. When the findings point beyond the mouth, such as enlarged tonsils, allergies or a tongue-tie, we bring in our wider team of ENT doctors, speech and feeding therapists and surgeons.

What therapy involves

We build each programme around your child’s age and exam findings. Sessions are short, five to ten minutes once or twice a day at home, and stay close to a game for younger children. Common exercises include resting the tongue tip on the spot behind the upper front teeth, holding a small card between the lips, humming or straw-breathing drills for nasal breathing, and swallowing with the tongue up.

We introduce each exercise in the clinic, review progress at follow-up visits and show you how to support practice at home without constant correction. Some children also use a removable appliance alongside the exercises. We recommend one only when the exam points to it.

Progress looks quiet at first. Children forget the new tongue position constantly in the early weeks, which is normal. Steady practice over months matters more than any single session.

How long it takes, and when to start

Most programmes run around six to twelve months, with follow-up visits every few weeks. Simple breathing and habit games may start around age four. Full programmes work best between ages six and twelve, once a child is ready to practise with some independence. Airway assessment itself begins from birth, so we track tongue and muscle function long before a formal programme starts.

How it fits with other care

Myofunctional therapy works best as one part of a plan.

Orthodontics. Palatal expanders and aligners open space. Therapy trains the tongue and lips to support the new position. Palatal expansion between ages six and twelve widens the arch and opens nasal airway space, so we plan the two together through interceptive orthodontics and Invisalign First.

Tongue-tie. When a tight tongue or lip tie limits tongue lift, a laser frenectomy may form part of the plan before therapy starts.

Oral habits. Thumb sucking, tongue thrust and open-mouth posture tend to travel together. Our oral habit retraining support covers the habit itself, while therapy retrains the muscles behind it.

Sleep and breathing. Therapy supports nasal breathing, yet it is not a stand-alone treatment for sleep apnoea. When findings point that way, we refer your child to an ENT or sleep specialist.

Further reading