Myofunctional therapy helps improve the way the tongue, lips, jaw, and facial muscles work together to support healthy breathing, swallowing, speech, and everyday function.
Myofunctional therapy focuses on how the muscles of the tongue, lips, jaw, and face work together during everyday functions such as breathing, swallowing, speaking, chewing, and resting.
When these muscles aren’t functioning optimally, patterns can develop that affect tongue posture, nasal breathing, swallowing, oral habits, and overall orofacial function. Myofunctional therapy uses individualized exercises, education, and habit retraining to help establish healthier, more efficient patterns.
Myofunctional therapy can be an important part of a collaborative approach to care, working alongside dentists, orthodontists, ENTs, sleep providers, speech-language pathologists, and other healthcare professionals when appropriate
With more than 23 years of experience as a dental hygienist, Melanie Wilder has spent her career helping patients improve their oral health. Over time, she became increasingly interested in the connection between the mouth, airway, sleep, and overall health, and in understanding why some problems continue even when traditional dental care is excellent.
That interest led her to pursue specialized training in myofunctional therapy through Airway Health Solutions. Her professional background also includes experience as a member of a dental sleep team, where she has gained valuable experience with sleep-disordered breathing, sleep apnea screening and testing, and collaborative care.
At Wildwood Orofacial Myology, our focus is myofunctional therapy, which includes helping children and adults improve patterns in their breathing, tongue posture, swallowing, and overall orofacial function. We believe care should be individualized and collaborative, working alongside other healthcare professionals when appropriate to support each patient’s goals.
