Lip seal - Myofunctional Therapy Self-Assessment

[@shubhamparewa9946]

I have both forward angled teeth and and a strained mentalis.

[@sarahworsham9411]

I can’t believe I’ve found this. My metalis (surely I spelled this wrong) is SO dimply. It’s so uncomfortable to have my mouth sealed. I definitely breathe through my nose (I think my tongue posture is appropriate).

[@andreag4477]

Hey have you made progress on this? I have the same issue

[@amelberbash3551]

Great to see this video, my 9 years old daughter suffering allergy with nasal congestion and difficulty breathing through her nose, her lips are not sealed and her teeth are not in the right position as well, I know nasal obstruction is the cause of all these problems, not I can't find any solution, doesn't know from where should I start, myofunctional therapy ?? Please help

[@gjwhite]

Thank you for this great series! A recent at-home sleep study indicated mild UARS, so I am beginning to explore myofunctional therapy as a first intervention.

[@allsleepashley]

Glad to hear this. Feel free to reach out if you hit any dead ends or want ideas for your next steps. This is a large part of what I do for work. It's tough to navigate the world of sleep disordered breathing.

[@sukkatdavid3365]

Hi! My chin gets wrinkled when I close my mouth due to face lengthening and some receding. I am trying to teach myself to close my mouth but ironically I look worse cause there is more dimples that way. Is there a way to reduce them? would a massage of the area help? any particular exercises? You can see what I look like on my channel videos. Thanks!

[@allsleepashley]

You may be able to minimize this by training your tongue to rest on the palate and by various exercises to bias a more lengthened resting lip position. You should start with manually stretching the lower lip, doing cotton roll lip holds daily may also be beneficial. I cannot see the posture of your ribcage, head, and neck in your videos, but improving in these areas may decrease mentalis activity. As for the specifics of which postural exercises I would recommend, I cannot recommend anything without assessing the specifics of your posture. In which state do you live? I may be able to recommend someone in your area to help you out.

[@dhilajoshy4925]

I can't seal my lips.. When I'm not paying attention to it.. Its slightly open.. How can i fix it?.. I have small lips and my upper lips are curled upwards a little bit

[@Sarthak77880]

Same here... you got any solution??

[@salemdigger5876]

my lips seem to be sealed fine but I often find I am drooling from each corner of my mouth?

[@danielp4633]

Ashley when you mention flarement of the upper teeth being a problem because the lip has a ''longer distance'', do you think forcing the lip seal can move the alveolar/teeth back to where it belongs? Ever since I started doing it I feel a bracers type pressure on my teeth

[@allsleepashley]

Yes, this pressure of the lip over time can move the incisors backward.

[@juliaprantalos]

I had braces for three years, four premolars were taken out, and I had an expander. After that my teeth were straight and no lip incompetence. I had a retainer but the then lost it and my teeth moved fast and I had an open bite then I started having a lip incompetence. I am 17. Now I have Invisalign…I am worried its not my teeth position. There is dimpling and my chin is soo tense. My upper lip in not covering my teeth

[@chaennies]

so your lip incompetence/open bite was fixed after getting the braces or did you get the lip incompetence after losing your retainer and developed an open bite/went back to the way you first started? asking ‘cause im kinda in the same predicament, i have an anterior open bite (teeth are also angled outwards), horrible mentalis strain and ive started to develop a clenching problem because of the forceful closure of my lips that are putting so much strain on my muscles and jaw. my ortho removed my 4 premolars as well as my wisdom teeth. im hoping that my lip incompetence and open bite will be fixed with braces but I’m not very sure since they did state that i might have to go through jaw surgery because my jaw position might be the problem as to why i developed an open bite (or as they assumed but im pretty sure it’s due to tongue thrusting). i have had the braces for almost a month now. if you could reply with your experience that would be extremely helpful!!

[@CoolerThanACucumber]

I have a lip tie that was released a week ago and my myo said it can be one of the causes of my minor lip incompetence. Will it take time after my lip release to see these improvements?

[@CoolerThanACucumber]

I would like to also mention that I don’t recall having this issue before Invisalign. It seems to have happened after orthodontic treatment?

[@ge..854]

Ma'am I m having this problem I cannot seal my lips at rest not even for 10 seconds ,find it difficult in sipping through straw ,sometimes canot even drink properly from a glass ...please suggest some kind of exercise to fix it

[@allsleepashley]

Are you able to comfortably breathe through your nose?

[@Cult_favouriteearringco]

I have forward angled teeth for which I'm on braces and I also have habitual open mouth breathing. When iam practice close mouth breathing my left side of lips closes smoothly but right side have gap. When can I do

[@zexade]

I started using correct tongue posture recently and I’ve started noticing two lines coming into both sides of the mentallis muscle. The muscle was already strained before i started using correct tongue posture but now with the addition of those lines the mentallis looks more pronounced as if it’s bulging out my skin. My mentallis is relaxed when I smile or let my lower lip hang down slightly. Is this something out the ordinary when adjusting to new tongue posture?

[@queenofpunt]

welp I've noticed the same...I actually looked better before.. I'm not digging the new lines:/

[@allsleepashley]

This is not uncommon depending on your facial and soft tissue structure. Regularly massaging out the mentalis several times per day may be helpful or doing stretches to lengthen your lower lip.

[@dancedancedance2458]

My lips cant close, and when i attempt to make them close, it is me clenching jaws and straining my upper lip to create closure. I do have a bit of an overbite, due to tongue thrusting, and a narrow palate. i got palate expanders in when i was 13, and braces when i was a teenager. Even when i got my braces off and no longer had an overbite, i could not close my mouth because of my upper lip. There is no doubt i am a tongue thruster, my lower jaw muscles aren't pronounced and my chin goes backward rather than outward, and my upper lip cannot close the space to my lower lip. i am wondering if an upper lip frenectomy could help my upper lip reach my lower one. as when i manually pull down my upper lip it feels like that's where the position of it is supposed to be, but theres a great strain on the frenulum. Thank you if you can answer!

[@allsleepashley]

Have you tried consistent upper lip/upper lip frenulum stretching (several weeks for several times per day)? This is always worth trying before doing a frenulum release. Because I haven't done an evaluation and don't know the specific details of your case, it's difficult for me to say whether releasing the upper lip frenulum would help. Where are you located?

[@florafades]

I cannot tell if i have mentalis strain. My chin is active when closing my mouth, and not fully at rest, but i don't see dimpling per say. I recently had a caliber persistent artery removed from my lower lip and I concerned as to whether this has impacted the structure of my lip, as it takes more effort to get a lip seal on the side where it was removed. Help ?

[@allsleepashley]

It's difficult for me to give you specific information without doing an evaluation. Where are you located? Maybe I can direct you to a provider near yoou.

[@amaya2447]

Hello I'm 19 and Ive had braces before. I have a weak chin that causes my mentalis muscle to strain even though my posture and tongue position are correct. Is there anything I can do about it?

[@allsleepashley]

You may be able to get the mentalis to be less strained by tucking your bottom lip under your top lip and massaging the mentalis with the side of your finger. I recommend doing this several times a day for several weeks to see if you are getting a change. Your chin may be quite sore from doing this.

[@lilliliililliililliliil9135]

Hello. I speak Spanish, it is difficult for me to understand you. I am 18 years old and my problem is that when I close my lips (which is difficult for me and seems uncomfortable) my chin tightens, just as you said. I think my problem is not structural, the angle of my teeth is slightly advanced, but it is little. Anyway I was thinking of using braces to fix it. But if the problem is NOT structural, what would be the solution? Thank you very much for the video

[@allsleepashley]

It may be worth trying lip stretches and/or cotton roll holds (see my other videos) to rule out things like limited lip range of motion. Where is your tongue at rest? Improving resting tongue posture may improve the ability to easily close your lips as well. If you do try braces, search for an orthodontist who understands the implications to the airway.

[@lilliliililliililliliil9135]

@@allsleepashley When I put only the tip of my tongue on the palate it is easy for me to close my lips (The chin gets hard and bad shape anyway). If I put my entire tongue on the roof of my mouth it is difficult for me to close my lips. I'll try lip stretch like you told me. Do you have any video on that? anyway now i look

[@allsleepashley]

@@lilliliililliililliliil9135 Yes, start with lip stretch and cotton roll videos. Eventually, I will have more exercise videos.

[@amreetsharma5003]

@@allsleepashley plz give link thanks so much

[@paolobenetti9835]

I have angled teeth, i find it hard to breathe through the nose and my lower lip is bigger than the upper one, if I want to seal my lips "without repercussions" I need to tape them, but when i don't use the tape should I only move down my upper lip until it touches the lower one or should I try to close my lips evenly without using the mentolabial muscle?

[@allsleepashley]

It's difficult for me to say without having more information. In general, for starters, I'd probably start with a manual upper lip stretch and cotton roll holds (I have videos on both) and do whatever you can to better breathe through your nose (nasal rinse, nasal dilators, night time taping, controlled pauses). Where are you located? It may be more useful to see someone for an evaluation so you can get more specific advice.

[@paolobenetti9835]

@@allsleepashley Ok thank you very much! I'm in Italy btw

[@allsleepashley]

@@paolobenetti9835 Unfortunately, I don't know anyone who does this kind of work in Italy. Let me know if I can help in any other way!

[@priyagandhi8198]

Hi, I am 23 and have mentalis strain and my lips don't rest closed naturally. My upper lip is short. Please suggest some treatment.

[@allsleepashley]

It may be useful to start with manual lip stretch and cotton roll holds. I have videos on both of these. These are general recommendations based on the information you provided. I hope they provide some relief.

[@anastasiadicoski9591]

I had an extreme overbite and I have a narrow palate. I got braces to fix my skew teeth and the over bite. I wore head gear and elastics to fix the overbite. My mandible seems ok because of the braces but my maxilla is very recessed and my upper lip is quite short, I can not seal my lips properly and when I do, I strain my mentalis muscle. Even with my lips unsealed and mentalis relaxed, it sits kind of in the middle of the area between my bottom lip and end of my chin. Idk if that makes sense. When I seal my lips, the bottom lip protrudes outwards. How can I fix this? Did braces make my situation worse?

[@allsleepashley]

Have you done any exercises yet to begin addressing this? Training palatal tongue posture and lengthening lip tissues, improving your awareness of where your lips are in space, and training more habitual lip seal will likely be helpful, based off the information you gave me and if I am understanding correctly. It is difficult to know if braces made this worse... in some cases, they do cause retraction of the mandible and/or maxilla and narrowing of airway space. Not all studies in this realm are consistently showing that braces cause this negative change.

[@jyotikatokas4064]

I am 29 year old and my lip seal it seems it requires little effort that causes strain on nasalobial muscles so how would I know if the lip seal is because of vertical growth or just out of habit of keeping my mouth open. And if it’s because of vertical growth can that be corrected

[@allsleepashley]

It's likely a combination of the two, but you may be able to improve your lip seal with exercises and habit changes despite any vertical growth. I would start here because you won't know the answer until you try this. Also, it is the least invasive and cheapest place to start. If this doesn't fix this issue and it bothers you enough, there are ways to fix it surgically. Depending on the structure of the rest of your face and your goals, doing some variation of jaw surgery with counterclockwise rotation of the maxilla may be an option.

[@amreetsharma5003]

Plz make on video exercise for lip incompetence

[@allsleepashley]

I recommend starting with my videos on lip stretching and cotton roll holds.

[@amreetsharma5003]

@@allsleepashley thanks mam from punjab

[@amreetsharma5003]

@@allsleepashley can it also helps in gummy smile

[@allsleepashley]

@@amreetsharma5003 Potentially, if one of the reasons for your gummy smile is a short upper lip.

[@amreetsharma5003]

@@allsleepashley OK I follow these exercise from yesterday

[@rolliepollie222]

Hi, my top lip is kind of short and doesn’t really cover my top teeth. My teeth are straight though. Will this help??

[@allsleepashley]

This is more of an assessment than an exercise, but yes, sealing your lips throughout the day should help your upper lip rest in a more lengthened position over time. Doing the cotton roll holds and manual stretch may also help with this (see those videos on my channel).

[@rolliepollie222]

@@allsleepashley Thank you! So will those exercises physically lengthen the lip/philtrum?

[@allsleepashley]

@@rolliepollie222 They should allow the lip/philtrum to rest in a more lengthened position. I would do these consistently for a few months before deciding if they are helping or not.

[@rolliepollie222]

@@allsleepashley Okay, thank you. I had a pacifier as a kid so I’m pretty sure that’s what contributed. But my philtrum/upper lip is really short and curls up. Is there anything else besides this that I can do as well?

[@allsleepashley]

@@rolliepollie222 Have you checked to see if you have a lip tie?

[@anya2624]

I also have recessive chin . How do I fix it?

[@allsleepashley]

Kipa, the solution depends on the various factors that are contributing to the issues. It is impossible to give a general answer.

[@LK-li4yd]

I’m 28 years old and I have this problem of lip incompetence. Is there a way I can solve this? (appliance/exercises..) and can I achieve significant results the same level children would achieve? ( I guess it requires more time and dedication though, just want to know it’s possible) Thanks!!

[@allsleepashley]

Yes, this is a problem that can be solved. The exact treatment will depend on what is causing the lip incompetence. This may be some combination of restricted lip frenulum, a short upper lip due to habitual open mouth posture, excessive vertical facial growth (making it more difficult for your lips to contact each other), forward tilting of your front teeth, etc. Typically, I recommend beginning with exercises/stretches and habit changes. Then save move invasive interventions for later, if needed. Achieving the same results as a child in regards to lip competence may be possible. Although, if excessive vertical facial growth is one of the main reasons for the incompetence, this may be more difficult.

[@dorisbest7580]

aooliance is called Froggy mouth,it is cretated by french orthodontist ,just google it and look for distributor in your area,or by from their online shop,I personally know people who got excellent results,for the cost of 50 euros r so...

[@tha1thaonlythatsme]

Do you think my dimpled chin will go away if I keep up with lip seal exercises ?

[@allsleepashley]

Hannah, this is a case-by-case result. Which lip seal exercises are you doing? How frequently are you doing them? How long have you been doing them? Are you seeing any progress?

[@tha1thaonlythatsme]

@@allsleepashley I just started doing the cotton roll excercises you mentioned and button pulls. Also mouth taping at night. I’ve also been keeping good tongue posture. I had braces when I was younger and had a bit of a relapse with my open bite but its very slight. Do u think mouth taping will eventually bring my teeth down and close it bc my top teeth are slightly flared.

[@allsleepashley]

@@tha1thaonlythatsme An anterior (front) open bite or a posterior (back) open bite? A combination of retraining tongue posture and movement, as well as mouth taping at night, could indeed close an open bite. Every case is different so I can't say for sure for your case. This will certainly take time and persistence with exercises and habit change to see improvement, so stay the course for several months to truly determine if it's helping you meet your goals.

[@tha1thaonlythatsme]

@@allsleepashley Its an anterior open bite and it’s very slight. My front two teeth are slightly flared because of it. I’m glad you think it could close up. My other concern is when I close my mouth my mentalis muscle sticks out and it’s strained. I know I could get Botox to relax it but I don’t want to. If I strengthen my lips and facial muscles, would the dimpling and strain subside on its own? Mine is also genetic because my mothers has it but I’ve also had an open bite and deviated septum growing up which I know can be a cause of it. Do you think with lip exercises and strengthening my facial muscles it could go away on its own even though it genetic? Also is mouth taping something people do forever or do your lips eventually stay sealed at night without the tape?

[@allsleepashley]

@@tha1thaonlythatsme Yes, there is a chance that the dimpling could lessen/go away with exercises and habit change. Be persistent for 6 months or so to see if you notice improvement before resorting to more invasive interventions. It may be helpful to see a myofunctional therapist in person for more personalized guidance of exercises if you aren't sure which are best for your needs.

[@flowercollector9013]

Hello can't comfortably close my lips because of excess certical growth and braces didn't help.Is there anything that I can do I am 21

[@allsleepashley]

What state do you live in? I'm asking to hopefully direct you to providers near you. Did you do any kind of palate expansion with the braces?

[@flowercollector9013]

@@allsleepashley I didn't get any palatal expansion and I got braces at 11.Got another round of braces at the age of 15 for the exact issue but it didn't help either.I am 21 now and nothing has changed.I live in Turkey not USA sorry

[@allsleepashley]

@@flowercollector9013 Have you trained your tongue to rest at the roof of your mouth? From the tip of the tongue to the back of your tongue? If not, start there. Have you tried lip stretching and cotton roll holds?

[@hawaii3231]

My lips don’t close naturally cause my teeth are bucked

[@allsleepashley]

You may be able to change your teeth by forcing your lips to close with habit changes, exercises, and very persistent effort.

[@hawaii3231]

@@allsleepashley I can but you can clearly see the strain and it’s getting increasingly harder

[@allsleepashley]

@@hawaii3231 Where do you live? It may be worth seeing an airway dentist or myofunctional therapist in your area for a consultation.

[@poshridnl]

I'm a 16 years old male and I am considering of geeltting orthotropic treatment. Do you think it will work for me?

[@allsleepashley]

Most orthodontists I know will not use orthotropics for a patient beyond age 7 or 8 (typically 7) due to limited jaw growth after this age. If you are considering doing so at your age, I suggest asking your provider what experience they have applying this treatment to a 16-year-old and what kind of results were achieved.

[@poshridnl]

@@allsleepashley Are there any other options for me?

[@allsleepashley]

@@poshridnl Yes. I would need to know about your goals and/or symptoms to make specific recommendations. Feel free to tell me more here, email me at [e-mail], or make an appointment for a free Zoom consultation with me so I can better assist you. If you'd like to make a consultation appointment you can do so at sommerspt.com.

[@poshridnl]

@@allsleepashley I have got two wisdom teeth removed. Can I still get the orthotropic treatment? Thank you very much.

[@allsleepashley]

@@poshridnl You'll have speak with orthotropic providers in your area to see what they are willing to do based on the specifics of your case. I imagine it is still possible to do orthotropics if wisdom teeth have been removed. I think your age would be more of a limiting factor than your wisdom teeth removal, but again, this is something to confirm with your provider.