Habituation: The Ultimate Goal of Myofunctional Therapy

When you start orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT), you might think the goal is simply to learn a set of exercises for your tongue, lips, and jaw. While those exercises are the foundation of the process, the true objective of OMT is much deeper: habituation.

At MyoMovement, we don't just want you to know how to hold your tongue or close your lips—we want your body to do it automatically, without you ever having to think about it.

What is Habituation?

Habituation is the process of making a behavior so ingrained that it becomes your brain's default setting. Think about learning to drive a car. At first, you had to consciously think about every action: checking the mirrors, pressing the pedals, turning the wheel. It took intense focus. But after months of practice, driving became second nature. You can now drive home from work while listening to a podcast and barely remember the trip. That is habituation.

In myofunctional therapy, habituation means that your new, healthy oral posture—lips sealed, teeth slightly apart, and tongue resting fully against the roof of your mouth—has become your automatic state, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Why is Habituation So Important?

Many people seek myofunctional therapy to correct issues like mouth breathing, tongue thrust, or orthodontic relapse. These problems are often the result of deeply ingrained, incorrect muscle habits that have developed over years or even decades.

For example, if you have a tongue thrust, your tongue pushes forward against your teeth every time you swallow. Since the average person swallows 500 to 1,000 times a day, that constant pressure can easily push teeth out of alignment, even after years of wearing braces.

If you only practice the correct swallowing pattern during your 15-minute daily OMT exercises, but revert to the tongue thrust the rest of the day, the therapy won't be effective. The incorrect habit will continue to dominate. Habituation is the only way to ensure that the correct muscle patterns replace the old ones permanently.

The Journey to Habituation

Achieving habituation in myofunctional therapy is a step-by-step process that requires time, consistency, and patience. Here is how we guide our clients at MyoMovement:

Phase 1: Awareness

Before you can change a habit, you must be aware of it. Many clients don't realize they are mouth breathing or resting their tongue on the bottom of their mouth. We start by helping you tune into your oral posture throughout the day.

Phase 2: Muscle Strengthening and Coordination

Just like going to the gym, OMT exercises build the strength and coordination needed to maintain proper posture. If your lip muscles are weak from years of mouth breathing, you won't be able to keep them sealed without effort. We target these specific weaknesses.

Phase 3: Conscious Practice

This is the "learning to drive" phase. You will need to consciously remind yourself to close your lips, place your tongue on your palate, and swallow correctly. We use triggers—like checking your posture every time you look at your phone or stop at a red light—to build this conscious habit.

Phase 4: Subconscious Habituation

Through consistent repetition, the new neural pathways in your brain become stronger than the old ones. The correct posture and swallowing patterns become automatic. You will wake up in the morning with your lips sealed and your tongue on the roof of your mouth. You have achieved habituation.

Breaking Noxious Oral Habits

Habituation is also crucial for breaking noxious oral habits in children, such as thumb sucking, finger sucking, or prolonged pacifier use. These habits can severely impact facial growth, dental alignment, and speech development.

At MyoMovement, our habit elimination programs use positive reinforcement and myofunctional exercises to help children consciously stop the habit, while simultaneously retraining the muscles to adopt a healthy resting posture. Once the new posture is habituated, the urge to suck the thumb or pacifier naturally fades.

The Lasting Impact of Habituation

When habituation is achieved, the benefits of myofunctional therapy are lifelong. You will enjoy better breathing, improved sleep, stable orthodontic results, and optimal facial development.

If you're ready to break old habits and build healthy, automatic patterns for life, contact MyoMovement today. Our customized OMT programs are designed to guide you every step of the way to successful habituation.