Conditions / Facial development & growth patterns
Facial development & growth patterns
How the face grows — jaw width, palate shape, airway space — is shaped early by posture and habits. Therapy can support the patterns that lead to healthier development in children, and address the habits that maintain long-standing patterns in adults.
Reviewed by Gina Sabbak, RDH · Myofunctional Therapist, Louisville KY. Last reviewed . Educational content — not a substitute for in-person evaluation.
What it is
Craniofacial growth is influenced by a small set of consistent forces: tongue posture against the palate, lips closed at rest, nasal breathing, and a mature swallow. When those forces are present, the face tends to develop with a broad palate, well-aligned teeth, and an open airway.
When those forces are absent — from chronic mouth breathing, low tongue posture, or prolonged oral habits — the face tends to grow long, the palate narrows, the teeth crowd, and the airway narrows. This is sometimes called ‘long-face syndrome’ in the literature, though we use plain language here.
Common signs
- Narrow or high-arched palate
- Crowded or crooked teeth
- Mouth breathing or lips-apart-at-rest posture
- Long, narrow facial shape in children
- Frequent nasal congestion or allergy symptoms
- Snoring or restless sleep in children
How myofunctional therapy may help
Educational, not diagnostic. Outcomes vary; results are not guaranteed.
Establish correct tongue-up posture and lip seal so the palate and dental arch develop under balanced forces.
Restore nasal breathing as the default, with coordination with your allergist or ENT when structural issues are present.
Eliminate prolonged oral habits (thumb, finger, pacifier) that shape growth.
What to expect
For children, programs run 6–9 months and work best while facial growth is still active.
For teens and adults, therapy addresses the muscle and habit side; structural change is coordinated with your dental or medical team.
Coordination with an orthodontist, ENT, or allergist is often part of the plan.
Keep learning
Related reading
- Mouth breathing in children: why it matters
Educational article (~5 min read).
- Breathing Retraining
How this service supports this condition.
- All conditions we work with
The full set of myofunctional patterns we support.
- How we may help
Overview of the assessment and program structure.
Common questions about facial development & growth patterns
- Can myofunctional therapy change facial growth in children?
- Myofunctional therapy does not change growth on its own — growth is driven by genetics and overall health. What therapy can do is change the muscle and habit forces that shape how growth expresses itself: tongue-up posture against the palate, lips closed at rest, nasal breathing, and a mature swallow. When those forces are present during active growth, the palate tends to develop wider, the dental arches broader, and the airway more open. Coordinated care with an orthodontist, ENT, or allergist is often part of the plan.
- At what age is it too late to address facial development?
- It is rarely "too late" — but the window for working with active facial growth is the early years through early teens. After that, therapy addresses the muscle and habit side; structural change is coordinated with your dental or medical team. Many adults make meaningful improvements in breathing, sleep, jaw comfort, and stability of orthodontic results even when growth is complete.
Open references
Where the illustrations come from
The anatomical illustrations on this page are drawn from openly licensed educational sources. We attribute them in the caption; the canonical sources are linked here for anyone who wants to verify or use them.