What to Expect at Your First Myofunctional Therapy Evaluation

You don't need to do anything special to prepare for your evaluation. If you have relevant records — previous sleep studies, orthodontic records, a letter from your ENT or dentist, or a prior tongue tie assessment — feel free to bring them or send them ahead. They're helpful context, but not required.

Come ready to talk. The evaluation involves a lot of conversation about your history, your symptoms, and what you've noticed about your breathing, swallowing, and sleep. The more context you can provide, the more complete our picture of what's happening.

The evaluation is comprehensive and typically takes 60 to 90 minutes. We assess breathing patterns at rest and during different activities, tongue resting posture and mobility, lip seal and lip tone, swallowing mechanics with both liquids and solids, oral habits such as thumb sucking, nail biting, or prolonged pacifier use, jaw function and any TMJ-related symptoms, and sleep quality indicators.

We also look at the structure of the mouth — the palate shape, the frenulum, the relationship between the upper and lower jaws — to understand whether there are anatomical factors contributing to the functional patterns we observe. In children, we pay particular attention to signs of early facial development concerns such as a narrow arch or crossbite.

After the assessment, we sit down and talk through what we found. We explain which patterns are present, why they matter, and how they connect to the symptoms or concerns that brought you in. Nothing is assumed — if something is unclear, we explain it.

We also give you our honest recommendation. If therapy is appropriate, we explain what a program would look like, how long it typically takes, what the visit cadence looks like, and what home practice involves. If we identify something that warrants attention from another provider first — an ENT referral, a sleep study, or a tongue tie assessment — we tell you that too.

If you decide to move forward, we build a personalized program based on your specific evaluation findings. Not everyone has the same patterns, and not everyone needs the same program. Your plan reflects what was found in your evaluation — the exercises, the visit frequency, and the sequence of what we address first.

Most patients begin noticing changes within the first few weeks of consistent practice. Some changes — like reduced snoring or improved sleep — are noticed quickly. Others — like lasting changes in tongue posture or swallowing mechanics — develop over the full course of the program. We track progress at each visit so you can see how things are changing.

The questions we hear most often: How long will therapy take? Most programs run several months, depending on complexity and consistency of home practice. Will I have to come in every week? Visit cadence varies — weekly at the start of the program, often biweekly as you progress. Can my child do this? Yes — we work with children, teens, and adults. Can I do sessions virtually? Follow-up sessions and exercise check-ins can often be done via video. The initial evaluation is best done in person.

If you have a question that isn't answered here, bring it to your appointment. There are no questions that are too basic or too specific — we would rather you leave with complete clarity than with lingering uncertainty about the process.