Orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) has emerged as an alternative and adjunct for the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in adults and children.

An expert team including my mentor (Kushida) and colleagues (Camacho) performed a meta-analysis that included 15 studies with 237 patients. They report a mean AHI reduction from 28.0 ± 16.2/h to 18.6 ± 13.1/h. Sleepiness measured via ESS (156 patients) reduced from 12.71 ± 5.73 to 8.78 ± 5.80.

From my clinical experience, implementing MFT before and/or after sleep surgery is promising for a faster return, and optimization of function. I consider pre- and post-surgical MFT as the prehab and rehab phases of treatment.

Around 2018, I started to explore endoscopic airway examination during MFT with Esther Bianchini and her team in Brazil. Esther is a world-renowned expert in MFT and OSA. The team also included dear ENT colleagues from Brazil (Dr. Eric Thuler, Dr. Mariane Yui, and Dr. Fabio Rabelo). MFT for the treatment of OSA has long been studied and performed rigorously in Brazil.

The video is one of many from our first study, where MFT exercises were performed with endoscopic visualization of the throat/pharyngeal muscles.