Myofunctional Therapy Virginia Downing

Imagine the face and jaw as a tent. The tent with it’s tent poles is useless without the guy ropes as they provide the tension to hold the shelter straight and ...strong. The guy ropes of your face are the muscles. In particular, the muscles of the lips, face and tongue. If we have the right tension in these muscles the forces acting on our face tend to be more balanced. In the growing face especially, these forces contribute to bone growth via the pull of the muscles on the bone. This is a great system, provided the tensions on the ropes are correct. In muscle terms we call this length tension relationships. In the face, things such as pacifier use, thumb sucking, open mouth breathing and nasal obstruction can alter the length tension on these muscles. This can result in incorrect growth forces. A great example of this is the way a thumb sucker may have their teeth not meeting in the middle (open bite) because the force of the muscles pulling back over the thumb has literally shaped the way the teeth have positioned themselves. So what does all this have to do with chewing? Well, chewing is something we should be doing quite a lot of everyday as the muscle activation required places a lot of force through the face, jaw and skull to either grow the bone or to keep it there and prevent bone loss. If you’re not chewing correctly due to muscle length tension problems, you’re likely not dispersing these strong forces as you should. So lip seal while chewing, slow and deliberate chewing and a correct tongue swallow are paramount to what Dr Kevin Bourke would call a good quality face. The Munchee is an ideal training tool for this as it places the jaw into a great resting position, the lips are closed around the device and the muscles and the bones attached to them undergo a great workout. Just like strengthening the guy ropes with just the right amount of tension! Practiced regularly this can help guide the strength and development of muscles and help maintain healthy, strong muscle tone at any age. As a starting point we recommend building to a twice daily chew of about 5-10mins each. Happy Chewing!