Shafer

This 21 year old’s lower front teeth were so lose, you could move them back and forth. Periodontal treatment hadn’t helped. She’d been referred to a gnathologist to have the teeth extracted and replaced with a bridge, with crowns placed on the adjacent teeth. He referred her to me for evaluation and treatment. Though not a mouth breather, she had a low forward rest tongue posture and low forward swallow, and habitually tightened her facial muscles with each swallow. Myofunctional therapy followed surgery to free her restricted lip frenulum, and she learned how to use her mouth and face muscles correctly. Her teeth tightened and no longer needed to be extracted.