The Dangers of Tongue-Tie and Mouth Breathing
Your oral structures, especially your tongue, are built to function in a specific way, allowing you to eat and chew, swallow, breathe, and speak comfortably. However, if you or your child are living with tongue-tie, it’s common to struggle with these basic everyday activities. When an infant is born with tongue-tie, he or she can develop problems from an early age, the most common of which is mouth breathing. Patients who constantly breathe through their mouths can develop troubling and long-term health problems such as sleep apnea and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorder.
Uniquely qualified through advanced and specialized training, our dentist, Dr. Jenny Ruoho, and our team of qualified clinicians offer laser frenectomies and myofunctional therapy in Chaska, MN to treat tongue-tie, lip-tie, and mouth breathing in both children and adults. With personalized evaluation and treatment that targets the root issue of your individual symptoms, we can help return you to a life of health, comfort, and function!
What is Myofunctional Therapy?
Myofunctional therapy is physical therapy for you tongue, face, jaw, and neck. Specifically designed to improve speaking, breathing, sleep, chewing, and swallowing.
Tongue Tie:
“When one muscle (tongue) isn’t working correctly; other muscles compensate.”
If you feel tension when you try to elevate your tongue, you may be “compensating” by lifting the entire floor of the mouth or straining the neck, jaw or facial muscles.
Elevating the tongue independently of other muscles is important for nasal breathing, speaking, eating, swallowing, facial growth/development and sleep.
About Dr. Ruoho
Dr. Ruoho has almost 30 years of dental experience. She became interested in learning more about tongue ties and completed in-person training at The Alabama Tongue Tie Center with Dr. Richard Baxter (the author of the book “Tongue Tied”). She is also an ambassador of the Breathe Institute in Los Angeles, CA. She completed functional occlusion training at The Dawson Academy. Dr. Ruoho is a Myomentor myofunctional therapy graduate and has had advanced training for Nightlase, Smoothlase, ErYAG, NdYAG and diode laser procedures. These qualifications along with her background as a general, sedation, Invisalign and implant dentist has given her a comprehensive background to help patients understand the underlying causes to a variety of symptoms including facial pain, sleep and breathing problems.
Possible Symptoms:
- Headaches
- Neck/Shoulder Tension
- TMJ/Facial Pain
- Bruxism/Teeth Grinding
- Difficulty Nursing (Infants)
- Fatigue
- Snoring
- Sleep Apnea
- Poor Sleep
- Mouth Breathing
- Tongue Thrust
- Digestive Problem
- Increased Gag Reflex
Schedule a 30-minute
Complimentary Consultation
- Myofunctional Therapy Program
- Frenulectomy (Tongue Tie Laser or Surgical Procedure)
- 3D Imaging of Nasal/Sinus
- At Home Sleep Study with Interp.
- Snoring and Sleep Apnea Appliances
- TMJ and Facial Pain Splints
- Vitamin D Testing
- A1C Testing
- Laser Photobiomodulation (Muscle Pain Reduction Therapy and Relaxation)
- Nightlase
- Medical Billing
Long-Term Effects of Myofunctional Problems
- Chronic snoring
- Airway issues
- Sleep apnea
- TMJ disorder
- Speech difficulties
- Trouble swallowing
- Headaches
- Crowded teeth
- Poor posture
- Digestive issues
- Narrow palate
- Long face syndrome
- Weak chin
Specialized Treatment with Dramatic Results
Myofunctional therapy is beneficial for both children and adults, though pediatric treatment can help prevent negative habits from fully developing as well as improve latching and feeding. For adults, myofunctional therapy can help correct life-long issues with breathing, swallowing, and other health problems associated with tongue-ties and mouth breathing. Myofunctional therapy is a series of personalized exercises designed to help a patient use his or her tongue properly (including proper resting position and a closed mouth) as well as how to nasal breathe, chew, talk, and swallow correctly.
These exercises may begin before tongue-tie surgery and will continue for generally six or more months after. Laser frenectomy surgery is a seconds-long procedure that releases the tissue causing restriction of the tongue. Once released, a proper range of motion is restored and myofunctional exercises will begin to show positive results in compliant patients. Over time, repeating these exercises until they become habits, can actually change facial appearance as the bones and muscles adapt to new movements and positions, in addition to dramatically improving oral health and function.
Care from a Leading Myofunctional Dentist
Dr. Ruoho is one of only a few dentists in the entire state of Minnesota to offer adult frenectomies and to provide such comprehensive and individualized myofunctional therapy for her patients. Passionate about her patients’ health and quality of life, she has received advanced training through the prestigious Breathe Institute in Los Angeles, where she’s currently an ambassador due to her dedication to myofunctional therapy and airway-focused healthcare. Along with her training from The Dawson Academy in functional occlusion (harmony between the jaw joints, facial muscles, and teeth), Dr. Ruoho is uniquely qualified to offer myofunctional therapy in her practice and as a result, has become one of the leading dentists in the Twin Cities area to provide this life-changing treatment for her pediatric and adult patients.
Amazing Benefits of Myofunctional Therapy
Myofunctional therapy helps retrain the tongue muscles for proper function and restore the correct resting posture of the tongue, intending to reinstate nasal breathing as the primary way the body receives oxygen. These exercises have dramatic and life-changing results, including:
- Reduced snoring and sleep apnea
- Improved facial structure and appearance
- Restored tongue position and movement
- Improved breathing, chewing, and swallowing
- Reduced jaw joint, muscle, and neck pain
- Less risk for cavities and other dental problems