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Myofunctional Orthodontics has been gaining popularity in recent years, due to appeal in many ways: treatment is more comfortable – with removable appliances that don’t typically require extractions; treatment is easier to maintain than traditional braces; and it is just as, if not more, effective in straightening teeth – even decades later.
If you or your child are experiencing breathing problems, sleep apnea, snoring, improper bite, poor sleep or any other reason to believe there might be a myofunctional problem, please schedule a screening at our office to identify exactly what’s is happening in your case.
Myofunctional Orthodontics is simply an alternative to traditional ‘braces’ orthodontics in which the treatment uses myofunctional techniques to focus on the poor muscular habits that are one of the underlying causes of crooked teeth, and uses light intermittent forces to align the teeth rather than the constant pressure of a fixed bracket system.
It was coming to the awareness of the medical community that untreated airway
development issues in children was a primary cause in sleep problems that significantly impact the child’s long term health and wellness, far into adulthood.
Sleep quantity and quality – or, rather, the lack thereof – has been linked to behavior problems in school-aged children¹, poor academic performance², facial growth³ concerns, and can even impact their developing central nervous system⁴.
Most parents can readily attest to the fact that, like adults, children ARE affected by sleep disturbances! Your ten-year-old’s meltdown over being out of frosted flakes, or your 12-year-old’s dozing off in class can be the early warning signs of poor sleep due to airway obstruction caused by improper jaw placement at night, which is the result of the daytime’s muscular usage.
Traditional orthodontics wasn’t addressing this situation, as it ignored or discounted the impact that facial muscular habits or dysfunctions have on the developing child.
“Research has proven that crowded teeth, incorrect jaw development and other orthodontic problems are not caused by big teeth in small jaws or other hereditary factors. Mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, reverse swallowing and thumb sucking (known as incorrect myofunctional habits) are the real causes.”
(source: https://myobrace.com/en-us/what-is-myobrace/see-the-research )
With Myofunctional Orthodontics, there is a whole-life series of trainers (appliances) for the patient and a good deal of patient education as well, from infant to adolescent and beyond.
The desire, of course, is prevention of significant issues ever developing by the early detection and treatment of the causes.
Each treatment regimen is conducted in phases, according to the patient’s particular needs, but usually a temporary, removable intra-oral appliance is worn and/or exercised for 1-2 hours each day, and at night while the patient is sleeping.
Separate appliances are used, depending on patient’s age and type of orthodontic issue. The educational program is used to further correct the poor myofunctional habits, utilizing a series of breathing, tongue, swallowing, lip and cheek exercises.
A study comparing the outcome of continuous (braces) and intermittent (myobrace) forces have on root resorption (dental relapse, as it were) found that “buccally directed intermittent forces for 8 weeks produce significantly less total root resorption (P \0.05) than a similarly directed continuous force of the same magnitude and duration.”
It’s not difficult to see why Myofunctional Orthodontics is growing as a more desirable treatment of the underlying causes of crooked teeth, misalignment of the jaw, breathing obstruction and sleep disorders in children and adults alike!
If you or your child are experiencing breathing problems, sleep apnea, snoring, improper bite, poor sleep or any other reason to believe there might be a myofunctional problem, please schedule a screening at our office to identify exactly what’s is happening in your case.
Sunrise Orthodontics
11490 Commerce Park Dr #430, Reston, VA 20191
(703) 476-3969
https://sunrise-orthodontics.com/
Bibliography
¹Sleep and Behavior Problems in School-Aged Children:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/142a/1ae2525f1143eaa3a930e1486721670e4a48.pdf
² ³Pediatric Sleep Disordered Breathing/Obstructed Sleep Apnea: https://www.entnet.org/content/pediatric-sleep-disordered-breathingobstructive-sleep-apnea
⁴Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Children: Implications for the Developing Central Nervous System:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2490595/
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