The National Institute of Health estimates that 12 million Americans potentially suffer from sleep apnea. Snoring and mouth breathing at night can be early warning signs of sleep disordered breathing. Both should be addressed because they lead to daytime fatigue. If the mouth is open at night, the tongue is not in the correct position and is likely to fall into the airway. Primary snoring or simple snoring, is considered to be benign, but is still a symptom of sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Snoring caused by Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is considered to be more serious. This can be seen in children and adults.
Many people suffer from a severe lack of quality sleep. Sleep disruption can come from a variety of causes. One cause of sleep disruption is a medical disorder caused by your tongue as it blocks your airway while you sleep. This type of blockage of your airway is called obstructive sleep apnea. About 6 million people in the US have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and it is estimated that 23 million people are suffering the effects of apnea without being diagnosed.
Your tongue is attached to your jaw bone mostly in the front of your mouth. When the muscles in your throat, soft palate and tongue do not work properly, you tongue drops to the back of your throat while you sleep. If the tongue causes a partial blockage, the vibrations of the tongue tissue cause a snoring sound. If the tongue blocks your airway completely, you cannot breath and your body reflexes cause you to grind your teeth, partially wake up, move, kick, and gasp for air.

Types of Sleep Disordered Breathing:

Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome

Upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is characterized by narrowing of the airway that can cause a disruption to sleep. The airway isn’t obstructed, but there is something happening during sleep that makes breathing more difficult. This can include snoring, allergies, asthma, deviated septum or inflammation and swelling in the upper airway from illness. This normally doesn’t show up on regular sleep studies and often goes undetected. Patients suffering with UARS generally suffer from day time sleepiness, fatigue, snoring and a hard time staying asleep. This can even affect fit women in their 30’s.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Anyone of any age can have sleep apnea. Traditionally we have thought of overweight men to be at higher risk, but we now know that young children, women, teens, and even physically fit people have have sleep apnea.


Sleep Apnea in Adults

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic condition where the muscles of the mouth and throat area relax during sleep. This causes a blockage in the airway, resulting in a pause or stop in breathing. This can be a hundred times in a night lasting from a couple of seconds up to a minute without breathing. This in turn decreases oxygen throughout the cells of the body. Generally this leads to brief awakenings throughout the night, creating non ideal sleep. Common signs of OSA are stopping of breathing, snoring, choking and gasping for air. This is more common in men. Excess body weight, narrow airway and jaw are all risk factors.

Symptoms of sleep apnea in adults include:
- Headaches
- Poor concentration
- Loss of libido
- Daytime sleepiness
- Falling asleep during the day
- Mouth breathing
- Memory loss or feeling foggy minded

Sleep Apnea In Children

Sleep apnea and other sleep disordered breathing conditions can have serious health implications in children. Signs of this can include mouth breathing, snoring, grinding of the teeth, large tonsils and adenoids and childhood obesity. Many children who have disturbed sleep manifest their sleepiness with hyperactivity and inability to focus. Snoring may be related to obstructive sleep apnea or upper airway resistance syndrome, but in both cases hyperactivity and lack of attention span are present.

Symptoms of sleep apnea in children include:
- ADD or ADHD
- Bed wetting
- Sleep walking
- Night Terrors
- Slowed growth
- Loss or lack of appetite
- Sweating at night
- Napping in older children
- Mouth breathing
- Hormonal and metabolic problems
- Failure to thrive


Why Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea?

Sleep apnea has been shown to increase risk and severity of heart disease, high blood pressure, heart attacks, cardiac arrhythmias, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, stroke, and other chronic health issues. Sleep apnea results in preventing your body from reaching REM sleep which leads to daytime sleepiness, fatigue, short-term memory loss, early onset dementia and personality disturbances. These physical effects double the risk of car accidents, and increase risk of airplane crashes.

How can Myofunctional Therapy help?
The main purpose of myofunctional therapy is to build and improve the tone of the muscles of the tongue and the airway. While therapy cannot cure apnea current literature demonstrates that myofunctional therapy decreases apnea-hypopnea index by approximately 50% in adults and 62% in children. Lowest oxygen saturations, snoring, and sleepiness outcomes improve in adults. Myofunctional therapy could serve as an adjunct to other obstructive sleep apnea treatments. Studies have shown that some people realize a complete resolution of OSA, most patients find an improvement in their restful sleep, as with all therapy it is possible that you may not experience any improvement at all. If you already have moderate to severe sleep apnea the most effective use of myofunctional therapy is in conjunction with a medically prescribed C-PAP or mandibular advancement dental appliance or as part of treatment plan from an orthodontist or oral maxillofacial surgeon that includes expansion of the roof of the mouth and airway. Many patients have found that using myofunctional therapy helps them to adjust to having a C-PAP mask on their face or a dental appliance in their mouth. When physicians or dentists recommend surgeries to correct structural problems resulting in sleep apnea, myofunctional therapy before and after surgery helps patients realize the greatest benefits from their surgeries.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4402674/

Myofunctional Therapy in children
Oral Myofunctional Therapy is beneficial for adults and children that have already been diagnosed with sleep apnea or snore. The greatest benefit of myofunctional therapy is in children who are first showing signs of obstructed breathing while sleeping. During the formative years, OMT has been shown to help guide palatal and facial development to possibly prevent disordered breathing in adulthood. This is especially beneficial if used in conjunction with orthodontics.


Not only will treating OSA increase quality of life, it is crucial to overall health. Untreated OSA puts you at high risk for serious health conditions.

OSA can increase your risk of:
- High blood pressure
- Stroke
- Heart disease
- Diabetes
- Acid reflux
- Erectile dysfunction
- Severe and untreated can lead to death

Below are peer reviewed research studies, systemic reviews, meta studies/analysis, medical reviews, case reports, and research papers pertaining to Orofacial Myofuntional Therapy (OMT) and treatment/relation to the following:

Sleep Difficulties and Symptoms of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children with Mouth Breathing
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34934269/

Symptoms of sleep disorders, inattention, and hyperactivity in children
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9493930/

Sleep-Disordered Breathing in a Population-Based Cohort: Behavioral Outcomes at 4 and 7 Yearshttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3313633/

Myofunctional Therapy to Treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4402674/

Effects of Oropharyngeal Exercises on Snoring: A Randomized Trial
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25950418/

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Pathophysiological Perspectivehttps://www.mdpi.com/1648-9144/57/4/323/htm

Myofunctional therapy applied to upper airway resistance syndrome: a case report
https://aomtinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Case-Report-UARS-Myofunctional-Therapy-12.2015-Correa.pdf

Upper airway muscle exercises outcome in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0422763816301583?via=ihub

Oropharyngeal and tongue exercises (myofunctional therapy) for snoring: a systematic review and meta-analysis
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00405-017-4848-5

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Pathophysiological Perspective
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8066493/