Breaking Oral Habits: What Is Myofunctional Therapy and How it Helps Create Proper Oral Rest Posture (and why that matters!), by The Mouth Rehab

When it comes to oral habits like thumb sucking or mouth breathing, many parents don’t realize the long-term effects these behaviors can have on their child’s overall health and development. That’s why I’m so excited to share this post by Bryanna from The Mouth Rehab, a trusted resource for families navigating oral health issues.

I see thousands of smiles a year as a school photographer, so I know how important it is to make sure our children’s health is in the best shape possible. In this post, Bryanna explains “What is myofunctional therapy?” and how it can help break habits like thumb sucking, mouth breathing, and tongue thrusting, issues that many parents deal with but aren’t sure how to address. If you’re seeking solutions or wondering how speech therapy in Northern Virginia can support your child’s oral development, this is a must-read. Bryanna’s insights, drawn from her expertise as a speech language pathologist, provide helpful guidance to address these challenges.

From thumb sucking to nail biting, oral habits are common in both children and adults. While they may seem harmless at first, these habits can have a lasting impact on oral development, facial growth, speech, sleep, and overall health. At The Mouth Rehab, we often meet families looking for solutions to help break these patterns and establish healthier foundations for breathing, swallowing, and speaking. One effective tool is myofunctional therapy, a gentle but powerful approach that focuses on retraining the muscles of the mouth and face. But you may be wondering, what is myofunctional therapy and how can it help your child?

Why Oral Habits Matter

Oral habits like thumb sucking, prolonged pacifier use, tongue thrusting, and even chronic mouth breathing can change the way the teeth, jaws, and airway develop. The mouth is not just about eating and talking; it is the gateway to the body’s entire breathing system.

When these habits persist beyond the toddler years, they can:

• Push teeth out of alignment, leading to orthodontic concerns
• Prevent the tongue from resting in the correct spot against the palate
• Encourage mouth breathing, which dries the oral tissues and affects sleep quality
• Contribute to speech challenges, such as lisps or difficulty articulating sounds
• Impact the growth of the face and jaw, sometimes creating long-term structural changes

In short, the little things we do with our mouths can influence much more than our smiles; they shape how we breathe, chew, swallow, and speak. This is why many parents turn to speech therapy in Northern Virginia or consult a speech language pathologist for support when dealing with these habits.

What Is Proper Oral Rest Posture?

Before we talk about breaking habits, it’s important to understand what we are aiming for: proper oral rest posture. This is the position of the tongue, lips, and jaw when we are not actively chewing, speaking, or swallowing.

The ideal oral rest posture looks like this:

• The tongue rests gently against the roof of the mouth (the palate)
• The lips are closed, without strain
• Breathing happens quietly through the nose
• The teeth are slightly apart, not clenched

This posture supports balanced facial growth in children and optimal airway health in people of all ages. It also helps the muscles of the face and tongue work efficiently, preventing fatigue or tension. By teaching children what is myofunctional therapy and its role in achieving this posture, we can foster better overall health and development.

How Myofunctional Therapy Helps

Myofunctional therapy is like physical therapy for the muscles of the mouth and face. It teaches the tongue, lips, and jaw to find their correct resting place, and it helps break long-standing oral habits that interfere with healthy development.

Through personalized exercises, myofunctional therapy can:

• Retrain the tongue to rest against the palate instead of low in the mouth
• Encourage nasal breathing over mouth breathing
• Improve coordination for swallowing and eliminate tongue thrust or messy eating
• Replace unhelpful oral habits with healthier patterns
• Support orthodontic treatment by stabilizing results long-term

For children, therapy can prevent oral habits from causing more significant structural changes. For adults, it can be a key tool in addressing snoring, sleep apnea, jaw pain, and even relapse after orthodontic care. Speech therapy in Northern Virginia can work alongside myofunctional therapy to provide a holistic approach to speech and oral development.

Why Habit Elimination Is Not Enough

Many families try to break thumb sucking or pacifier use by simply removing the habit. While this may stop the behavior, it doesn’t automatically restore proper oral rest posture. If the tongue doesn’t know where to go, or if nasal breathing hasn’t been established, new compensations may develop.

That’s where myofunctional therapy makes the difference. It doesn’t just stop the habit, it replaces it with healthier patterns that last. The goal isn’t just to end a behavior but to create a stable, functional foundation for breathing, swallowing, and speaking.

Taking the First Step

At The Mouth Rehab, we believe in addressing the root cause, not just the symptom. By helping children and adults understand their oral habits and guiding them through myofunctional therapy, we empower them to build lifelong healthy patterns.

If you or your child struggles with thumb sucking, mouth breathing, or other oral habits, know that there is support available. With the right tools and guidance, you can achieve proper oral rest posture — unlocking better growth, clearer speech, more restful sleep, and improved overall health.

Breaking Oral Habits: What Is Myofunctional Therapy and How it Helps Create Proper Oral Rest Posture (and why that matters!)