Undark: Myofunctional therapy and tongue-tie surgeries are increasingly promoted as a treatment for the many ailments attributed to poor tongue posture in adults.
Zaghi and others also promote myofunctional therapy, sometimes in conjunction with frenuloplasty, as a treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. But Baldassari says there isn’t sufficient evidence to support myofunctional therapy as a sleep apnea treatment, either. The few small studies that have been done did not show that the therapy alone could decrease moderate to severe sleep apnea. Baldassari says she worries that real harm could come to sleep apnea patients with a severe disorder if they eschew conventional medical treatment for tongue therapy, because there are risks for medical complications like stroke and heart attack if the disease goes untreated.
undark.org
