22: Part 2 The Secret Sabotage - Frequent Night Waking, Tantrums, Picky Eating - TMJ, Teeth Grinding and more with Orofacial Myologist Jenny Cacilhas (MyoBalanace OMT)

Your tongue posture (or your child's!) could be sabotaging all of your attempts at making breastfeeding & weaning an enjoyable experience.

Continuing last week's interview - Jenna and Jenny discuss the importance of orofacial myofunctional therapy for children and adults.

In this partition of the interview, we go over various symptoms that may indicate the need for "tongue physiotherapy" (Aka - Myofunctional therapy!) such as sleep issues, mouth breathing, clenching and grinding, (in adults) and messy eating, picky eating and frequent night waking in kids.
 
We talk about how your child's quick "clip" of a tongue tie as a newborn might need revisiting and covers the benefits of bodywork and massages to release tension in the facial muscles. 

Show Notes:

• Symptoms that may indicate the need for orofacial myofunctional therapy: sleep issues, mouth breathing, clenching and grinding, messy eating, sleep disturbances.
• The role of tongue ties and the importance of proper stretching and care after a release.
• The benefits of bodywork and massages in releasing tension in the facial muscles.
• How tongue function affects overall health, facial changes, pain relief, and improved jaw function.
• Compensatory muscle movements and their impact on facial pain and TMJ issues.
• Goals of therapy: helping children sleep better and adults alleviate pain.
• The transformative impact of simple exercises on quality of life.

Schedule an initial virtual (or in person) consult with Jenny at www.myobalanceomt.com and keep the conversation going on Instagram @myobalanceomt

Grab your free guide to say "No" to the feed while still saying "yes" to the need at  www.ownyourparentingstory.com/guide

Love this episode?!  Shoot me a DM over on Instagram @own.your.parenting.story and tell me all about it. <3

Transcript

Jenna: When we're talking about what those symptoms are, can you briefly go over some of the things that parents might want to think about Seeing a orofacial myofunctional therapist for, 

Jenny: sleeping is huge. So you wanna look how your child is sleeping.

Jenny: Are their lips closed? Are they breathing through your noses? Are they quiet and peaceful? Great. If their lips are open, if their mouth, if they're mouth breathing, if they're loud and restlessness, often parents will come in and say their bedsheets were wrapped in a ball the next morning, cuz they just toss and turn all night long.

Jenny: They're constantly waking up to go to the bathroom. Our bodies kind of wake us up when we need to breathe, so it's more of the common habit that you see is in kids is waking up to go to the bathroom all night long. Clenching and grinding is another issue. That's another sign, a red flag of the airway issue. Are they a messy eater? Are they a picky eater that could stemmed from a tongue tie?

Jenny: Are they gasping while they're chewing? Are they open mouth chewing? Are they pushing up their tongue between their lips while they're chewing? Not eating enough or eating too quickly. Eating too slowly. That all can play a factor in tongue function.

Jenny: Are they sleeping? Do they fall asleep in the car? When you go for a car ride, most kids will, they like that rocking. But if it's all the time, then there might be a sleep issue. They're not getting enough sleep. So quantity, how many hours of sleeping and how well they're sleeping quality versus quantity is huge, right?

Jenny: So yeah, your child can be sleeping eight hours eight to 12 hours a night, and you think, great. They slept eight hour, eight to 12 hours a night. How well did they breathe while they slept? That breathing is gonna help with their growth and development. It's gonna help with their behaviors when they wake up in the morning. If they're temperamental, then it could be that they just didn't sleep as well as we think they're sleeping because they're not breathing. Yeah. Well, they're not breathing well. 

Jenny: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I would, I would almost add too just from my experience if you know that your child had a tongue tie when they were like a newborn and they had that, released and.

Jenny: You're, you are experiencing those things. It's like, yes, this is absolutely like tongue posture related, even if there's other pieces, like definitely get some support with that because I, a lot of times parents, the like, well, the pediatrician saw them when they were two days old, so that they had a tongue tie.

Jenny: It was clipped office and I never thought about it again. and then there's all these things happening at the same time and you're like, okay.

Jenny: You know, and that's, that's another issue is tongue ties can reattach. So if they're not properly stretched after like as a baby, if you're not doing that therapy afterwards and stretching that wound and really so that it doesn't reconnect or reattach, then.

Jenny: As they age. Yeah. You got it clipped when they're a baby. But it could have reformed and now you're looking not at that tip tongue tie that you're looking more at that posterior tongue tie. Cause it wasn't properly stretched when they were Yeah. When they were babies. A lot of doctors are, you know, they don't look at the airway with tongue tie.

Jenny: So there's no, no post post-surgery stretches involved. So we wanna make sure that that care is there that we are stretching that release after it's completed even with a newborn. It's super important to make sure that that release is properly completed and cared for after.

Jenna: Yeah, and I think that it's, it's like a lot of times people feel like , get the tongue tie released, like that, that there's a surgery involved and then that's it. And there's nothing else in involved.

Jenna: it's very important to have the body work and the, you know, the therapy afterwards to get that tongue moving properly and in the proper position and all those pieces as well as sometimes it's literally just a habit of like the mouth being open from Infancy and now there's a habit where the tongue is always low in the mouth and not being suctioned to the roof of the mouth.

Jenna: And then we have all these airway issues that, that follow from that. So I think that it's just really important to to, to recognize that, you know, 

Jenny: No, for sure.

Jenny: And even like, like you said, mentioning the body work and everything like that. So our tongue actually when we release it, we're releasing a piece of connective tissue that is actually connected from our tongue all the way down through our toes.

Jenny: So that one connective tissue is just a lining of the muscles that's connected. And when we are restricted in our tongue, we're restricted everywhere else. So even in babies and getting that. Having some sort of body worker to help with the stretching and the release of that is, is huge will be huge to the the outcome of it of that tongue tie release.

Jenny: It's just it's, it's fascinating what the tongue actually, actually plays a role in in our overall health. 

Jenna: Yeah, so Totally. And I see that too with moms that are like, you know, they had a tie released or they know that there's a tie and they haven't had it released, but the baby's like super tight in the car seat.

Jenna: Or they're having just, I mean there's also like torticollis and all that kind of stuff, but they're like, they're cry when they're in the car seat and it's like, well there might be a little tension in that little body even after the release. Because it's still there, right? Like we, we know that, that, that tongue has started moving at like, what, 12 weeks gestation, like that.

Jenna: That's when the tongue starts moving. So even just at birth, like how many weeks has that baby been? Months, has that baby been functioning that way? That's how the muscles are forming with all that tension.

Jenna: And so that's how the body comes out tense and tight. Mm-hmm. And then you put it in a little car seat with straps on.

Jenna: It's painful.

Jenna: I said this to you and I know when I was in office, like, cuz I see you myself, I was so tight in my face and I, I was like, I need some support. And I just started doing the massages that like I know to do with like kids and it hurt to just touch. The tension was so bad that the first little touches were like a hot searing knife on my little cheeks.

Jenna: I was like, it hurts so bad. And I was like, Oh my goodness. This is what those little babies are feeling when they have so much tension. Like, and of course it hurt like that at first, but like very gentle massage. And after just a day or two it was already feeling a lot looser and the pain was not as intense.

Jenna: Mm-hmm. And I've also heard clients. That as adults that got their tongue released. And they just say that like, it was immediate relief. Like they felt relief, not pain from it because it was like that, that tension in the mouth was greatly reduced. So I know that that can, I don't wanna scare anyone by saying like, you touch your kid to do a massage and they're gonna cry, but no, just how important that is.

Jenny: Very, very minimal movements at a time. Right. And that's why you keep going back and, and, and you're getting, you're releasing that tension. Little, little at a bit a little at a time. In that way. It's not painful. Actually feels really good for the baby, baby toddler. Yeah. Adult. It feels, it feels really after that release is all, all completed and you're not tight and you're not yeah, even like with tongue tie releases in adults, like I've seen it where I like to always ask my patients, if they are going for the tongue tie release, I, I have them send a picture of them trying to like, just straight leg and try to touch their toes, and then we do it the day or hopely, they do it the day they.

Jenny: Do the tongue tie release. If they forget, then we follow up the next day and they send another picture. And it's interesting to see that movement of just by releasing the tongue, how much they were actually able to bend down further to touch their toes or stretch further. Yeah, so it's just so, so crazy.

Jenny: It's, I I always love doing those pictures because those are just so crazy and interesting and, and yeah, I always have them take those pictures for me and that way they can see, wow, I was really restricted, I was really tight. Yeah. But yeah. Even like the posture of like the, like it's crazy to see how I know that this is like oral facial bifunctional therapy is part of that whole piece.

Jenny: And like there can be airway dentistry involved and all of that, but like the way that like even aesthetically, the face can shift and change when like the jaws expanding and. Like the double chins can go away and like there's no hump in the neck. It's like mind blowing to me.

Jenny: You know, people are spending so much money on a facelift and it's like, oh, well, and, but you don't get the benefits of like sleeping better when a facelift. Yeah. Yeah. Learned section, the palette, no, that definition appearance will probably go away. Nope. Mine. Yeah. It, it's, it's very fascinating that the facial changes that happen, and not only that, like the tightness that goes away and the smoothness that you get out of it, course you get the, all that tightening in your facial muscles.

Jenny: You have a lot of that dimpling happening, especially underneath your chin there. So when it's, when it's. Functioning properly, and they're, and the tissues are, I mean, the muscles are all working together and you're not as tight as you once were. It's just that smooth, almost like Photoshop finish look from a before and after aspect of it.

Jenny: It's, it's, it's quite cool to see the, the changes adults, I mean the tongue. If you are doing malfunctional therapy as an adult, there. Very, very rarely do we get that jaw expansion because our, our jaws are already formed. At that point, you'd have to go for like an ortho or airway dentist that specializes in expansion.

Jenny: But but just the, the positioning and the muscle function is, is night and day difference. And of course a lot of people, Will come, like adults will come because of facial pain and, and jaw pain and tension. And once we start the therapy program, it's just, they notice within a month or two they're like, wow.

Jenny: It's really like after we start balancing those movements, it's really improved on the, on all the pain that they're, they're experiencing and their, in their jaw and their, and their cheeks slips and their facial. Yeah. And I think that that's, yeah. So just to even clarify why that tension is, is there, is because when the tongue isn't functioning, when the tongue's not doing what it's supposed to do, other muscles are compensating, right?

Jenny: Like that's what, it's like this compensatory thing that everything does tense tenses and they start doing the, the job that they're not supposed to be doing. So it, it hurts cause those muscles aren't supposed to be doing those things, but they're taking over the job of the tongue. Cuz the tongue's struggling.

Jenny: Yeah, exactly. Taking over the jaw of the jaw of the tongue, the, the jaw joint becomes a lot more you get a lot of more dysfunction with jaw with T M J issues because your, your tongue is a strong muscle and it's supposed to house a lot of the weight that our jaw joint is not supposed to.

Jenny: And so we will compensate for that. And you're right, it, there's a lot of compensation happening when our muscles aren't working or aren't functioning properly and the way they're intended to do. So we get that pain, but it's nice. To see that, that's my goal is always to have that pain go away. Yeah.

Jenny: In adults. Absolutely. My goal is really, let's get rid of the pain. Let's get rid of, you know, not being able to open your mouth as wide as you want to or any type of that pain pain children. It's that sleeping. Let's get that sleeping under control. That's, those are my, my goals of kids is really wanting them to breathe.

Jenny: Healthy outta their nose. Adults as well, because it will help with sleep apnea. But I like to, I love it when they come back and I'm like, my facial pain is not nearly what it was once when, when we first started. It's, it's really wild to think that like just these little bit of. Of exercises a couple times a day can make such an impact in your you know, quality of life overall.

Jenny: Mm-hmm. And all of that wonderfulness. And it really reminds me as we're talking about the compensation too. Like this is another piece that I talk about in my work when it comes to like the physical function of the body, but like pelvic floor issues, right? When our pelvic floor is weak and when we're, we're not having, then our back is compensating and we're having all this, you know, pain that happens other places in our body.

Jenny: So it's that same thing. It's like the, the. Pelvic floor goes through a lot when we're pregnant and when we're having kids. Right. But our tongue is also like, it's meant to do a lot of, a lot of things. And when we're not, when it's not functioning properly, then our, you know, our body is compensating and taking over.

Jenny: And so then we get all of this. All of this crazy mayhem that ends up happening. Mm-hmm. So I always like to use the, you know, like a rubber band analogy, for instance. So we have that fascia system right in our tongue, right when it's, or, or when we're so restricted in our, in our oral facial muscles. So we take that rubber ba band, turn it vertically, and we pull up on it.

Jenny: What happens to the bottom? Everything kind of stretches up as you're pulling up on that. On that on that rubber band. So that's kind of what's happening with our body is our, you know, everything gets tight and, and restricted. And that could happen from, I've seen knees, hips, like you said, pelvic floor shoulders like lower back.

Jenny: It's all connected by this one facial system. And if it's. Once we release it and we can get it functioning properly, then a lot less pain everywhere else. I've done a lot of work with chiropractors as well with hip pain and myofunctional therapy, and both of them combined was a night and day difference for their hip outcomes.

Jenny: So it was, it's pretty neat to see what the tongue and all your oral functions actually help with overall. Yeah, I know. And I, I like, but you wouldn't think of. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I think that that's, it's so cool to even, like just parents will this, this happens like breastfeeding with particularly like young babies and whatnot.

Jenny: And it breaks my heart because it's just a lack of education, but even very well-meaning providers who may. Actually have a decent amount of knowledge about su supply and demand and about those kinds of aspects of breastfeeding. But then when there's like behaviors happening at the breast and we're having issues with like suck, swallow, breathe and all that kind of stuff babies popping off a lot.

Jenny: You know, like these disorganized sucked patterns, all of that, which I see when I see the baby, that's what I'm noticing. But they don't necessarily see that. What they see is this kind of baby that seems a little bit fussy at the breast, but they're gaining, so then the, the provider will be just like, oh.

Jenny: This is just how babies are. Sometimes this is just how it's, but then when I sit down with my parents and I just explain to them how complex it is to just swallow something like all of the muscles and all the movement that's happening and how, you know, Like all of that, we just, I feel like we just underestimate the power of our mouths, like all the time.

Jenny: We have no idea how complicated it is to just like suck on something or swallow something. All of the different pieces that have to coordinate properly in order for that function to happen. And, and when you think about it, like even as I'm, I'm sitting here recording this interview, right? Like, my body is relatively stale now I kind of talk with my hands, so, but my mouth is moving like crazy, right?

Jenny: Like there's all of these complex movements that are happening like it of course, of course it's gonna affect things. And of course this is gonna be a powerhouse for our body, right? Like that we think of as far as like affecting things, but we just don't think about it that way, right? Like, So it's so important and it's, it, I mean, I always, I always tell people like, oh, they went to their family doctor or they went to the pediatrician or their, you know, their dentist and they said everything was fine.

Jenny: They'll grow out of it or this, you know, or they'll just wait till they get older. We'll see. And, and, and they're not wrong. That's what they know. That's why we call it practicing medicine cuz they're practicing it every single day. You're learning, you're, you're, you're, you know, you have to create that knowledge to know.

Jenny: And some people will go into the airway field, some people will go into more of a, you know, Dentistry, I'm speaking, right, so to speak, a, a cosmetic dentistry field. Some people will go into the airway, some people will go, you know the ortho field, periodontal, like whatever field you wanna choose in, you just look for the passion.

Jenny: But even with providers and family, doctors and pediatricians, they're, they're constantly evolving. Like they're just practicing medicine and that's what they know. That's. You know, that's what we are taught. And so it's just skidding the root. No, you will not grow out of it, but we can make it function properly.

Jenny: It's the function that we're looking at. How's everything working and functionally, and if everything looks good, then there's nothing wrong with it. But if you don't dig deeper and look at the function, actually look how that town's working, then that's when we get the issues. Yeah. And even to think that there's, like, we could have like.

Jenny: You know, interventions that support expansion, like later on, right? Mm-hmm. But that the tongue is the natural expander of a palette and so that there's just like small interventions that can happen at the beginning that we can do that really support development over time. And we're not just having this wait and see, not wait and see necessarily to see if it evolves into something, but like we have to wait.

Jenny: Until, you know, x, y whatever age in order to do this one intervention, cuz that's all we know. We don't know, like, you know, we, we haven't learned more exactly about these other pieces, so. Yeah. Yeah, you just gotta look and I'm always key, like, let's do that expansion, the quicker the better. So there's growth appliances now that help with job, proper job growth and development.

Jenny: And so you might need to get into that growth. Early on, like those growth appliances of by three, that could help. We do a lot of jaw growth between our like three to eight years old. We do a majority of our jaw growth. So it's, it's a huge time period of let's, let's get this job to growth grow. I'm not saying you'll never need ortho, you still might need ortho in the end, right?

Jenny: But if we can get that expansion without having surgical expansion later on, And that's, that's the goal. Yeah. To get that exactly. To be the natural expander. Cause the less surgeries we need, obviously the better. And so the goal is to have that tongue, see what we can do naturally with a tongue expansion.

Jenny: And you might need an appliance when they're younger, but the younger we can get into that appliance. . And that's what I'm thinking about airway health. Let's get this jaw like wide and, you know, brought forward. So we get nice sinuses, nice nasal pastures. There's nice in the air, nice airway larger airway. It's just, we don't want, let's stop shrinking and let's, let's grow. Yeah, I think, cause right now essentially just our diets are, you know, mothers now are working a lot more, a lot less time breastfeeding.

Jenny: Our foods are a lot more processed, so we don't have that harder food that we used to have in the past. Like if you look at our ancestors, our jaws were very wide no breathing issues, like very large airways. And so what's happening now, we're just becoming very, very narrow. Jaws. Yeah. Yeah. And that I, I think that it's just interesting to note too, and we'll wrap up soon.

Jenny: I just could geek out about this forever, but well, like breastfeeding does support like proper oral function. Sure. Makes sense. And so, yeah, so when we're introducing bottles and pacifiers, which are, I'm not, you know, criticizing or saying that anyone's wrong for doing those things, but it's also true that they can shape the palette.

Jenny: In ways that, and, and they can often, I don't wanna say that they create a lazy tongue, but there's you know, a lot less work to draw milk out of a bottle with a, you know, number three nipple or something than it is to draw milk out of a breast. And that is toning the tongue, right? Like that's the, the work there to do all of that which is so, so important.

Jenny: So I also think too, You know, we have all of these now gadgets to breastfeed with like breastfeeding pillows and all these things. But these are pretty modern inventions. And in those positions, like the breastfeeding positions that we have in our modern day and time, cause the child generally speaking to tip their head forward and it causes the jaw to recess and it causes the tongue to not move forward like it's supposed to.

Jenny: And it narrows all of the space in the back of the the throat which is. Poor for breastfeeding. Like it doesn't support healthy breastfeeding and also doesn't support healthy oral function and healthy oral development over time. So, you know, like a lot of times so yeah, there's like the food we're eating, there's all those kind of pieces, like when you're talking about like eating really hard things and all of that, that's causing our jaw to be larger, like historically ancestrally but then also just our, these, these things like a breastfeeding pillow that we think is so awesome.

Jenny: But we, we use it in a way that, you know, really inhibits actually Proper oral function. And so there's so many reasons why you know, we've kind of come to this place. Was my long way of saying that, but yeah. Yeah, no, sure. I mean, it, it's a lot and you know, not it's a lot, but the, but bottles, most bottles out there, you tip 'em over.

Jenny: That melt is just flowing out of them. So yeah, you're absolutely right that there's not, that it's, it's creating a dysfunctional swallowing pattern because it's just easy. Yeah, it's, they're easy. They're, they're basically, Feeding for you. But yeah, but there are bottles out there that will help promote that section, like less of a flow almost really, really good.

Jenny: To, to help with that. Yeah. That suck. If, if, if can't breastfeed. Yes, absolutely. I always say like whether you're formula feeding, breastfeeding, if you're using a bottle, you need to understand proper bottle technique period. Whether you like, whether it's pumped milk or formula, whatever it is. So talk with a lactation specialist because.

Jenny: Bottle feeding is breastfeeding. It's just an artificial, it's an artificial breast, so you still need to know how to use it properly, you know? Mm-hmm. Like it. Nope. Nope, a hundred percent. I re I refer a lot of kids to lactation consultants and, or a lot of the infants, when I say lactation consultants and they, they, they do that part of it for me, but it's just, yeah, it's a lot harder to suck from a breast than it is from a bottle.

Jenny: And it's just creating that dysfunctional swallowing pattern. But later on from myofunctional therapy, exactly. Yeah. And so we just don't see those long-term impacts of it, right? Like cuz in the moment the baby's gaining weight and that's what's important. And it's, it's, it's important for your baby to gain weight, like absolutely.

Jenny: And mm-hmm we can make small changes now that can, you know, impact their breathing, like in potential of developing sleep apnea and you know, like all of these things like long term that, you know, really, really affect quality of life. So why not? Why not do those things now? It's so important. Yeah, yeah, no, I definitely, the earlier you can start on oral function, the better for me based on even just for jaw growth as a hygienist, I love to see nice wide jaws and, and healthy breathing.

Jenny: Like no mouth breathing, just nasal breathing, and A nice, broader, wider face instead of that long, narrow face. So it's just the earlier we can start that, the better. And that why are you hating on face? Jenny, why are you hating on my face, Jenny? Teasing. Narrow face, face long gone. Really? I know we all have that long, narrow face and that's just evolution, I guess over time.

Jenny: But once you see it, you see it. Once you see it, you can't unsee it and then you can. Exactly. I'm just like, when I went under this rabbit pool of myofunctional therapy, I'm like, oh, now I just, yeah. I see. I'm like that kid in sixth sense. I see tongue dysfunction everywhere.

Jenny: I can almost predict like somebody's breastfeeding story just by the face of like the shape of their face and the shape of their kid's face. Like they're beautiful.

Jenny: Yeah. It's not about aesthetics, but like I can, yeah. I totally, once you see it, it's like, yep. Okay. I know how this goes. Yeah, for sure. And my only thing is I wonder if they have sleep apnea. Like when I see an adult and I love and I see that open mouth posture, I always wonder, I'm like, I wonder what a sleep test, if they took one, if what, what would the outcome was just because Yeah.

Jenny: Of a narrow posture of narrow, narrow jaw, open mouth posture, weak, weak muscles. Then, then you're getting into that sleep apnea. Sleep disorder, breathing issue. Yeah, absolutely. All right, well let's wrap this up because I know we could talk forever. But why don't you share with everyone you said that you just.

Jenny: Share with everyone where you are, what your business is, and where they can contact you. My brain is not functioning today. No worries. Need better sleep. So my business is called, it's called Mile Balance omt. So just all one word, mile balance, and then omt. So it, I do do a lot of virtual, I you know, the pandemic, everybody kind of went virtual, so it's very easy to do the therapy, the therapy program online virtually.

Jenny: You can go to my website www. My own palt com. And that will direct you to links and a lot of information on myofunctional therapy as well. And then also links if you do want the assessment and complete a myofunctional assessment. I also do in-person appointments. I'm currently working out Zo.

Jenny: So if you're locally in the Windsor County, Area in Ontario. Then I do do local appointments virtual, I mean in-person appointments as well. You can follow me on Instagram. I do post, I try to post on Instagram and it's just at Myo Balance omt on my Instagram page. Yeah. Amazing. I thank you so much for coming on the podcast.

Jenny: No problem. It's been a pleasure and I know, thank you. Having that moms are gonna benefit from it, so Yeah. It's, it's such a pleasure. If anybody has any questions, any questions on airway health and, and jaw development and yeah, feel free to look me up and, and contact me.  (Contant details are in the show notes)