Dietary Factors
Dietary Factors: A soft diet can result in underdeveloped jaw muscles, which are essential for proper jaw growth. Without the natural resistance provided by chewing harder foods, the jaw may fail to expand adequately.
Dietary Factors in Children
Dietary factors can play a significant role in conditions that affect the proper function and coordination of the tongue, lips, jaw, and facial muscles.
Here’s how:
Lack of Chewing from Soft Diets
Modern diets are often soft, processed, and require minimal chewing. Without enough chewing:
- Jaw muscles weaken
- Facial bones don't develop properly
- The tongue may not learn proper positioning during eating
This can lead to:
- Narrow palate (high-arched roof of the mouth)
- Crowded teeth
- Mouth breathing
- Low tongue posture
Prolonged Bottle Feeding or Pouch Foods
Extended use of bottles or squeeze pouches leads to:
- Incorrect tongue and lip mechanics
- A reliance on sucking over chewing
- Delayed development of mature swallowing patterns
This can contribute to:
- Tongue thrust
- Low tongue posture
- Improper breathing or speech development
Take Action for Your Child's Health
If your child is suffering from the consequences of having a soft diet or prolonged bottle feeding, it’s important to seek professional help as early as possible. With the right intervention, such as Oral Myofunctional Therapy, it’s possible to correct these orofacial issues and promote better health, development, and comfort.
Don’t wait — early intervention is key to preventing long-term issues. Contact us today to learn more about how OMT can help your child develop healthy breathing habits and enjoy a lifetime of good oral health.
Dietary Factors: Understanding the Connection and How Oral Myofunctional Therapy Can Help
Research suggests that introducing harder textures and encouraging chewing from an early age supports healthy orofacial development. OMT (Oral Myofunctional Therapy) can be particularly beneficial for children who may have missed these developmental opportunities. It helps improve muscle tone and function, supports more typical patterns of swallowing, speech, and breathing, and can prevent further issues.
OMT aims to retrain the orofacial muscles and correct dysfunctional habits. For children affected by soft diets, inadequate chewing, or prolonged bottle feeding, therapy interventions often include:
- Exercises and activities that strengthen the tongue, lips, cheeks, and jaw to improve tone and coordination
- Teaching proper chewing and swallowing patterns to encourage active muscle use
- Promoting the transition from bottle to cup and encouraging a varied, textured diet to stimulate chewing
- Correcting mouth breathing by promoting nasal breathing, which supports healthy facial development and overall well-being
- Addressing speech difficulties linked to muscle weakness or poor oral posture
- Supporting proper jaw growth and palate expansion (in collaboration with other healthcare providers as needed)
