Why Some Kids Need More Than Braces to Fix Their Bite
Quick answer: Myofunctional therapy is a set of daily exercises that retrain the tongue, lips and facial muscles to rest and work the way they should. In children, it supports nasal breathing, tongue posture, chewing and swallowing, and it tends to make orthodontic results hold up better over time. Programs generally run six to twelve months. At JuniorDental, airway evaluations look at tongue posture and muscle function from a child's first exam, and the team helps families connect with a qualified myofunctional therapist when a program would help.
What the therapy trains
Orofacial myofunctional therapy works the muscles around the mouth much like physiotherapy works a joint. The target position is simple to describe and harder to hold: lips closed, tongue resting on the palate, teeth slightly apart, breathing through the nose. The resting posture itself supports healthy facial growth over years, not weeks, which explains why it gets overlooked.
Signs a child might benefit
• Mouth breathing that shows up during the day, at night, or around the clock
• Snoring or restless, tossing sleep
• A tongue that rests low or pokes between the teeth
• An open-mouth resting posture, even during quiet activities
• Thumb sucking or long-term pacifier use past age three
• Speech sounds that are hard to form, like a lisp or unclear "s" and "th"
• Picky eating or unusually slow eating
• Orthodontic results that keep slipping backward after treatment
What a session looks like
Sessions run short, five to ten minutes, once or twice daily, and stay playful for younger children. A few common exercises: resting the tongue tip on the "spot" behind the upper front teeth, holding a small card between the lips for two minutes, alternating cheek puffs to build strength, humming or straw-breathing drills for nasal breathing, and chewing crunchy, age-appropriate foods on alternating sides.
How long it takes and why home practice matters
Most pediatric programs run six to twelve months, with visits every two to four weeks and short daily practice at home. Progress tends to plateau after three or four months without consistent home practice, which is where the real change happens, not in the clinic chair.
How this fits with orthodontics and airway care
Braces and expanders open up space in the jaw. Myofunctional therapy teaches the tongue and lips to hold that space once treatment ends. Combined with airway-focused orthodontic care, and ENT input when tonsils or adenoids are enlarged, the therapy lowers the odds of relapse by a wide margin. Dr. Rafif Tayara, founder of JuniorDental, built the clinic's airway evaluations around this kind of whole-mouth thinking, treating the tongue and airway as part of the same picture as the teeth.
What age to start
Simple breathing games and habit work may start around age four. Full programs tend to succeed most from ages six to twelve, once a child is coordinated and motivated enough to practice reliably. JuniorDental's airway assessments start much earlier than that, from birth, so muscle and tongue function get tracked well before a formal program would ever begin.
Frequently asked questions
Is myofunctional therapy backed by research?
Yes. Peer-reviewed studies show it improves symptoms of mild to moderate sleep-disordered breathing in children and supports orthodontic stability. It is not a stand-alone treatment for severe sleep apnea.
Who provides this kind of therapy?
Trained myofunctional therapists, usually dental hygienists, speech-language pathologists, or dentists with postgraduate certification in the field.
Does insurance cover it?
Coverage varies by country and provider. Some plans reimburse under speech therapy or medical necessity codes, so ask your provider for a superbill.
Do adults benefit from this too?
Yes, though results usually take longer to show up than in children, since the muscle habits have had more years to set in.
