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Guide · For dentists

Myofunctional therapy and dentosophy: where they meet

Many dentists who want to work with tongue, swallowing and breathing start by looking for myofunctional therapy training. This article explains what dentosophy shares with myofunctional therapy, what it adds, and where each belongs.

By Dr. med. dent. Rebekka Hueber · Specialist in oral surgery · M.Sc. OrthodonticsUpdated: October 2026

Context: causal statements in this article describe the Dentosophy Academy's teaching model, not a consensus of professional societies. Diagnosis and treatment remain with qualified professionals within their own scope.

What myofunctional therapy does

Myofunctional therapy is an exercise-based therapy for the oral and facial muscles: tongue rest posture, swallowing pattern, lip closure and nasal breathing. Patients practise specific exercises over weeks to months, usually guided by a myofunctional therapist or a speech therapist.

What dentosophy shares with it

Dentosophy looks at the same functions: breathing, swallowing, chewing and where the tongue rests. Like myofunctional therapy, it treats them as active functions that can be trained, not as fixed positions to be corrected mechanically.

What dentosophy adds

Dentosophy places these functions in a wider frame. Four elements set it apart:

  • A model of the skull base: in the academy's teaching model, the position of the sphenoid and occipital bone at the spheno-basilar synchondrosis determines how the jaws relate.
  • An appliance: the balancer, a soft removable double mouthpiece made without individual impressions, used for exercises during the day and worn at night.
  • Balanced chewing: chewing evenly on both sides as part of the training, because the chewing muscles attach at the skull base.
  • Posture: posturological tests with the balancer show how bite, head position and body statics interact.

Where each belongs, and how they combine

If the main issue is an isolated swallowing or speech pattern, myofunctional therapy or speech therapy may be the right first step. When function, jaw relationship and posture interact, dentosophy offers a framework that connects them.

In practice the two are often combined: the dentist assesses the bite and the relationship of the jaws to the skull, the therapist trains specific muscle patterns.

Is the dentosophy training a myofunctional therapy qualification?

No. The training is an educational programme. It does not confer a qualification as a myofunctional therapist or speech therapist, and what you do in your practice remains governed by your own professional licence.

What dentists learn in the dentosophy training

You learn to read functional patterns of breathing, swallowing and chewing, to read the skull base in a face and test it on the patient, to work with the balancer, and to recognise when a case belongs with orthodontics, ear, nose and throat (ENT) or sleep medicine.

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