About Me and Myofunctional Therapy
Hi! My name is Fayth and I've been in the dental world for over 6 years now, but my interest started when I was in grade 5 when I first got my braces. I was fascinated by the difference it was able to make in my crazy crowded teeth.
To this day I have been so embarrassed by photos of me before braces, I had this wicked overbite/overjet, open mouth posture (mouth breathing), a narrow upper palate, and so much crowding in my teeth.
Along with these, I also grew up with chronic health issues such as hearing problems, speech problems, airway issues, allergies, asthma, ear infections, mouth breathing and sleeping issues. Many of these problems I didn't even KNOW were problems because we thought - and were told - that they were NORMAL. And if I didn't correct these issues, they would have lead to MANY MANY more...
back pain, digestive issues, higher blood pressure, sleep apnea, anxiety, high cavities risk, blocked airways, clenching & grinding & much more...
All of this because of one simple tissue called "lingual frenum", or in other words, a tongue tie.
And after 2 years of working as a dental hygienist, I have realized that I was FAR from the only one experiencing these problems, and seeing these go untreated on patients with LISTS of health problems & medications has really made me critically think about our healthcare system.
I had a calling for this field into holistic health & myofunctional therapy. I couldn’t continue watching our health care providers do band-aid fixes for symptoms that were happening for bigger reasons. I fell in love with interprofessional collaboration to diagnose the root cause of these symptoms, and making treatment plans to ACTUALLY fix the problem, not the symptoms.
In the future, I hope to continue spreading awareness in this field to people & health care providers to help change the face of how we practice medicine!
What is Myofunctional Therapy?
Myofunctional therapy is retraining the tongue and orofacial muscles for proper functioning to benefit the whole body. Myofunctional therapy targets 4 main goals - correct tongue posture, nasal breathing all day & night, maintain lip seal, and correct swallow pattern. To learn more about all the benefits of these goals, check out my Facebook or Instagram page! I love teaching about the full body connection on my socials!