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Oral myofunctional disorders are habitual lip and tongue rest, swallow, and speech postures. These disorders may be seen as:
- lips apart at rest,
- mouth completely open resting posture,
- forward tongue resting postures
- forward tongue swallow postures
These disorders may interfere with normal growth and development of the muscles and bones of the face and mouth, interfere with facial and oral muscles used for eating, talking, and breathing, which may:
- cause problems with talking, swallowing, and breathing through the nose, and/or
- cause problems with (and/or pain in) the temporomandibular joint (TMJ)
- cause a pushing out of the tongue during speech, eating, drinking, or even swallowing saliva (tongue thrusting or fronting) which can negatively affect the teeth and the development of dental arches.
These disorders may also cause problems with lip closure, which may result in drooling, and/or loss of food or fluid when eating or drinking and may result in the need for orthodontic management.