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little ones

( ages 2 to 8)

 

Welcome, Little One

When it comes to your little one, we know that their health and wellness is a top priorty. We specifically see patients who have suspicion of a lip or tongue restrictions, which may affect whole body wellness like reflux, sleep troubles, speech difficulties, anxiety, and bedwetting. We work in collaboration with other health providers, offering your little one co-diagnosis from your healthcare provider, speech language therapist, dentist, or physical therapist.   

Signs + Symptoms

Our care path focusses on assessment of suspicion of lip or tongue restrictions, which may affect whole body wellness.

Examples of health concerns related to intraoral restrictions are: 

  • Reflux  

  • Sleep troubles 

  • Speech difficulties 

  • Learning and handwriting difficulties 

  • Anxiety  

  • Gasping or other breathing difficulties 

  • Bedwetting  

  • Gummy smile or overlapping baby teeth

  • Appearance of enlarged forehead

little ones

Who is a Little One?

Little ones in our practice are children with primary or mixed dentition (baby teeth or baby and adult teeth) below the age of 8. 

Training personal muscle and breathing habits for little ones will have positive effects on their orofacial growth. These affect health and wellness now and throughout their life. Myofunctional care plays a valuable role in their structural, functional, and behavioural growth and development.

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Does your child have all permanent dentition (adult teeth)?

If yes, your child may be best cared for as a youth. 

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schedule your myofunctional care online

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Getting your Little One started

 

We require some important information about your little one’s health prior to the initial appointment. Please create a login on our patient software and fill out your child’s medical and dental forms.

We will also send you separate questionnaires relating to sleep, feeding and any of your concerns.

It may feel as though some of these questionnaires overlap at some points, so please make note if you feel you have already answered that question, and we will refer to that section. 

The Journey to Wellness: Finding Release + Relief Through ALF Appliance

How We Care for Little Ones

Once you have created a profile for your child in our patient software, including completed Medical and Dental forms, along with the separate questionnaires we have sent you relating to sleep, feeding, and any other concerns, we can begin caring for your little one.  We will schedule a 15-minute visit to review these forms and examine your little one. During this visit we will be observing and interacting with them to observe normal function and gain their trust. We would be pleased to share any our findings with your healthcare providers at your request. 

 

Treatment for Your Little One

Following your little one's initial screening and any further investigations, our myofunctional team will work with your little one to cultivate their awareness of the muscles used for resting posture and swallowing through exercise and therapy. Our goal is to strengthen and rehabilitate the tongue and facial muscles while simultaneously allowing for new neuromuscular patterns to become habitual. 

CARE + TREATMENT OPTIONS

  • Habit retraining for breathing, chewing, and swallowing (Myofunctional Therapy) 

  • Tongue or lip release 

  • Removable, nighttime wear, or leave-in appliances 

  • Appointments for therapy with collaborative healthcare providers 

  • ALF appliance

  • Myobrace / myomunchee appliance

  • Cranial sacral therapy

  • Planus direct tracts

Image by Tim Bish

We are currently waitlisting all new patient inquiries and referrals for children and youth.

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how may we help?

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