Welcome to Enunciate Therapy

Orofacial Myology

Regain the joy of eating, speaking, breathing, and even sleeping more soundly.

Learn More about Orofacial Myology

Welcome to Enunciate Therapy

Orofacial Myology

Regain the joy of eating, speaking, breathing, and even sleeping more soundly.

Learn More about Orofacial Myology

Orofacial Myofunctional Disorder
Do you have an OMD?

An orofacial myofunctional disorder can hinder your ability to eat, swallow, and speak correctly. It can affect your breathing or the way you sleep.

Do you suffer from any of the following?

  • Mouth Breathing

  • Orthodontic Relapse

  • Chronic Tension

  • Mood Disorders

  • Jaw Pain

  • Toxic Oral Habits

  • Tongue Thrust

  • Snoring

  • Chronic Headaches

  • Grinding

  • Swallowing Difficulty

  • Poor Posture

  • Sleep Apnea

  • Tongue-Tie

  • Speech Problems

Do you suffer from any of the following?

  • Mouth Breathing

  • Orthodontic Relapse

  • Chronic Tension

  • Mood Disorders

  • Jaw Pain

  • Toxic Oral Habits

  • Tongue Thrust

  • Snoring

  • Chronic Headaches

  • Grinding

  • Swallowing Difficulty

  • Poor Posture

  • Sleep Apnea

  • Tongue-Tie

  • Speech Problems

About

Orofacial myofunctional disorder refers to improper function of the facial muscles, tongue and mouth. OMDs may directly or indirectly affect facial growth and development, chewing, swallowing, speech articulation, occlusion, oral hygiene, stability of orthodontic treatment, facial esthetics and more. Several factors can contribute to OMDs, one being inherited muscle patterns. Another is airway obstruction.

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Symptoms

Symptoms of orofacial myofunctional disorders can be very obvious or happen over a period of time and be unclear. Certain habits or conditions can interfere with proper actions of orofacial muscles causing OMD. These muscles include cheeks, jaw, lips and tongue. When these muscles function incorrectly due to habits or conditions, it can lead to improper development. This atypical development causes the muscles to have incorrect adaptations and not work in balance which can cause a variety of problems.

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Treatment

Our program is comprehensive and covers a variety of oral problems. This program helps reverse damaging habits, such as tongue thrust. This program can last from six months to a year. The objective of this program is to eliminate bad habits, demonstrate therapeutic facial exercises, develop proper lip seal and tongue placement and teach chewing and swallowing patterns to reinforce good habits. These goals will help the structures in the mouth stay in balance and habitualizing the learned behaviors is most important for long term success.

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Orofacial Myofunctional Program
Goals of the Program

  • Eliminate habits

  • Find resting tongue position
  • Achieve adequate lip seal at rest
  • Find typical pattern of swallowing
  • Have bilateral chewing
  • Correct drinking habits
  • Encourage nasal breathing
  • Establish good head and neck posture

Our Program is appropriate for children, teens and adults. Program goals are individualized and are meant to create new healthy oral habits. The benefit of healthy habits can include nasal breathing, a proper swallow pattern, favorable resting tongue position and preserving orthodontic results from this program.

Positive Impact: With an Orofacial Myology program, a patient can regain the joy of eating, speaking, breathing, and even sleeping more soundly. Cosmetic improvements can help restore confidence and self-esteem. We believe that everyone deserves to be educated about myofuncitonal disorders and treated if they suffer from OMDs. We endeavor to increase awareness of Orofacial Myology amongst the medical, dental, and academic communities to support the acceptance and progress of this profession world-wide.

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An orofacial myologist will help identify the concerns and educate the patient on why treatment is necessary.

Mikeeta Villanueva MS, CCC-SLP

Hello! My name is Mikeeta Villanueva and I am an ASHA Certified Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP). I am also currently on track to become a Qualified Orofacial Myologist (QOM) within the next 6 months.

I have been working with students and individuals of varying abilities for 9 years. I have experience as an educational paraprofessional, as well as Speech-Language Pathologist Assistant (SLP-A). I have worked in schools, clinical settings, adult rehabilitation facilities, and home health with clients of all ages and varying degrees of communication development and skills. I have worked with other professionals to treat reading and writing disorders, augmentative and alternative communication, feeding, language and speech sound disorders. I have taken extensive training to be able to identify, describe, and treat oral muscle-based deficiencies as well as work to treat orofacial myofunctional disorders (OMD’s). I truly enjoy getting to know each of my clients and personalizing therapy so that it is functional and meaningful to each unique individual.

Contact Mikeeta