What Does the Research Say?
“There is evidence that orofacial myofunctional therapy can be helpful in reducing the severity of sleep apnea and associated symptoms of sleepiness and snoring,” says Jordan Weiner, MD, a board-certified otolaryngologist and surgeon in private practice in Scottsdale, Arizona, who specializes in treating OSA.
For example, an older systematic review and meta-analysis found that OMT decreased the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) by 50 percent in adults and 62 percent in children. AHI is the average number of breathing interruptions that occur per hour during sleep — 5 to 14 is considered mild OSA, 15 to 29 is moderate, and 30 or more is severe.
A more recent overview and re-analysis of systematic reviews involving more than 700 children and adults found that myofunctional therapy improved OSA severity, daytime sleepiness, and sleep quality. But the researchers say these findings should be interpreted with caution, as most studies are low quality and at a high risk of bias.
Another recent systematic review and meta-analysis found that while myofunctional therapy consistently improved how people felt — as measured by daytime sleepiness and sleep quality scores — it didn’t significantly reduce objective indicators of OSA severity, such as the AHI.
And in a study involving 60 adults with moderate to severe OSA, those who practiced OMT exercises daily for three months saw significant structural changes in their upper airway.
The researchers confirmed those changes using drug-induced sleep endoscopy, a procedure that lets doctors view the airway while the patient is sedated. Among those with moderate OSA, the proportion showing no tongue collapse jumped from 15 percent before therapy to 80 percent after three months.
“Larger multicenter studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of myofunctional therapy in specific populations as well as its potential use in conjunction with other therapies,” says Dr. Weiner.
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