What is Myofunctional Orthodontics?

Over the past 20 years orthodontic appliances have been developed that will improve the dental and facial development of children from 5-15 years of age using myofunctional techniques instead of traditional orthodontics. This technique not only straightens teeth (often without braces) but also treats the causes of crooked teeth and incorrect jaw development.

75% of growing children have malocclusion and incorrect facial development. Soft tissue dysfunction is the major cause.

What Causes Orthodontic Problems?

The majority of our children will develop crowded teeth and incorrect jaw alignment. Comprehensive research has shown that mouth breathing, tongue thrusting, reverse swallowing and thumb sucking – known as incorrect myofunctional habits – are the real causes of malocclusion. These habits limit your child’s cranio-facial development resulting in orthodontic problems.

How Myofunctional Appliances Work

MRC has pioneered the use of appliances to correct myofunctional habits in growing children and has proven success in orthodontic correction without braces. This treatment can also lead to better facial development in growing children. The key to this treatment is correcting the position and function of the tongue, obtaining correct nasal breathing and retraining the oral muscles to function correctly.

MRC appliances effectively train the tongue to position correctly in the upper jaw, retrain oral musculature and exert light forces to expand the jaws and align the teeth.

The goals of treatment

• Correct nasal breathing
• Correct function of oral-facial musculature
• Correct arch form and tooth alignment

The myobrace trains the tongue to position correctly. This encourages correct swallowing and breathing patterns. The effect of the correct tongue position and Dynamicore corrects arch form and improves tooth alignment.