Palisadian Honored for Dedication to Research in Unique Therapy

Palisadian Joy Moeller was presented the Louis Pasteur Award for leadership and courage in the field of Myofunctional Therapy in Rome last month where she gave a lecture on Myofunctional Therapy and Sleep Disorders to more than 200 doctors from 22 countries at the Congress of the Academy of Applied Myofunctional Sciences.

“This therapy is hugely popular in other countries, but it’s not as widely accepted in the United States. There are a lot of politics surrounding it, but I persevered in my researching and writing and in my practice because I knew what I was doing was the right thing,” Moeller said. “I’ve been doing this for a long time and it was an honor to be recognized for my effort.”

Along with her colleagues, Samantha Weaver, MS(c) and Julia Winter, BS, RDH, Moeller has opened a new office in Pacific Palisades to treat patients with functional disorders of chewing, breathing and swallowing. Weaver has practiced myofunctional therapy for four years and coauthored a children’s book with Moeller called Tucker the Tongue Finds His Spot. Winter, also a myofunctional therapist, has been a dental hygienist for many years with Dr. Nelson in Pacific Palisades.

Moeller first opened her practice in the Palisades in 2001 when the field of myofunctional therapy mostly focused on those who had difficulties with their tongue placement and oral habits such as thumb sucking or nail biting. She has taught post-graduate training in myofunctional therapy at universities around the world and locally to dental, dental hygienist, speech pathologists, sleep specialists, and orthodontic and pediatric dentists.

“The research came out strong in 2009 showing how this therapy can help treat things like sleep apnea by helping to exercise the tongue and tissues in the throat. It’s a more natural way to treat these disorders,” Moeller said. “I’d rather see these disorders prevented so I treat the muscles by retraining more than 100 muscles in the head and neck.”

Moeller recently hired a local music teacher who will be teaching patients to play the didgeridoo, a wind instrument indigenous to Australia that has been proven to help with sleep disorders by increasing access to the airway and supporting circular breathing.

According to Moeller, new studies are now bringing a greater awareness to who can be helped by myofunctional treatment, including those with sleep apnea or repeated orthodontic problems, drooling, swallowing disorders or asymmetry in their face.

“Because the tongue is a strong organ, made up of many muscle fibers that will maintain an open airway and form the palate, if it is not functioning properly, the result may be an airway which will collapse leading to difficulty in proper growth and development of the skull,” Moeller said. “Also the tongue is connected to the hyoid bone in the neck and leads the way for proper posture.”

A former dental hygienist, Moeller had learned about the treatment from a dentist she worked with in San Diego in 1980 who suggested the treatment for her son, who had severe headaches. When she saw how it helped him, she became enamored with the field and went back to school to learn everything she could about it. She has been practicing, writing and teaching courses in the field for more than 30 years.

Myofunctional Thereapy and Associates is located at 910 Via de la Paz, Suite 106. Call (310) 454-4044.