Mouth breathing is a significant cause of TMJ. When a person cannot nasally breathe, due to enlarged tonsils or allergies they breath through their mouth. Mouth breathing causes the tongue to rest incorrectly on the floor of the mouth.instead of the roof of the mouth. When the tongue doesn’t rest on the palate a lack of support the maxilla needs to form a proper U-shaped arch . What results is a maxilla collapse into a V-shaped arch, propelling the orofacial system off balance and the lower jaw is pushes back which dislocates the temporomandibular  disk causing TMJ.

• Tongue-tie
• Incorrect tongue resting posture and mouth breathing
• Facial trauma
• Arthritis
• Dislocation
• Poor dental health 
• Structural jaw problems
• Uneven bite 
• Crooked teeth
• Incorrect swallow
• Lip biting
• Lip chewing
• Nail biting
• Extraction of teeth for orthodontics
• Genetics
• Epigenetic changes
• Age-related degeneration
• Nutritional and dietary issues
• Chronic stress
• Postural and structural issues
• Teeth clenching and grinding
• Improper chewing or swallowing patterns
• Malocclusion

Orofacial myofunctional therapy is used to treat TMJ. With orofacial myofunctional therapy one of the primary goals is to correct oral posture by toning and repatterning the head and neck muscles as well as to establish nasal breathing. When nasal breathing and oral posture are corrected, a balanced muscles and forward growth results. Doing the LEAST invasive treatment first is always best.