Intra Oral Treatment
Learn how to assess and treat inside the mouth so you can help babies with their feeding problems and set them up for proper growth and development.
Discover ways to make things easy and comfortable for both the baby and you by watching various videos and learning a step-by-step flowchart to help you get started!
4.5 hours of con-ed learning
Course Instructor, Outline and Objectives:
- Anatomy review with a highlight of relevant oral structures we will be assessing
- Tethered oral tissue staging and descriptions
- Assessment and treatment framework
- Gloves and positioning
- Communicating with parents about what you are going to do and why it's necessary
- How to start the intra-oral part of your treatment/introducing your finger
- Oral stretches and affected anatomy
- Case studies with videos of 6 different babies having intra-oral work done
- Release providers and how they work (in Ontario)
- When to refer out to a release provider
- More communication tips for talking with parents about referring out
- Treatment scheduling ideas
- Course wrap-up
- Resources
- Certificate of completion
Joanne Lynne is the course instructor and content creator for this course. Her accreditations are a Masters of Osteopathic Manipulative Sciences (MOMSc.), a certificate in Pediatric Craniosacral Therapy, and BSc. in Physics. She has studied Pediatric Osteopathy under Dr. Jonathan Evans, D.O. (Australia).
Why take the plunge into intra-oral therapy?
There are dozens of muscles and ligaments with thousands of nerve branches that serve the mouth and throat. To attempt to solve biomechanical problems from outside the mouth, face and throat is simply not good enough. The distinct structures of the hard palate, palatine bones, tongue, cheeks, and lips all need special attention! Newborns eat every 3-4 hours on average and often have problems latching and swallowing properly. Their oral function is extremely important not only to optimize nursing and bottle-feeding but also as the child grows. Their joints and tissue development need to be optimized. Intra-oral manual therapy is essential to release tissue restrictions that hinder a baby's oral performance and growth. Not only that, a deeper understanding of tethered oral tissues is required so a therapist knows how to distinguish between biomechanical dysfunction and true tethered tissue, when to refer out to release providers (dentists) and how to understand what happened during oral tissue surgery in babies they see in their practices (tongue and lip tie revisions).
Basic Framework
After a review of the relevant anatomy of the oral cavity you will learn a simple framework for assessing the mouth. This gives you a solid foundation to start from. As you evolve as a practitioner you can modify things to suit your needs and personal style.
In this framework, key points are explained to help you understand whether you are finding tethered oral tissues and when you should refer the family and baby out to a release provider. This is extremely important to know!
OMPs are a gateway practitioner in a baby's life.
We can spare them many future health problems by catching potential tethered tissue problems as we treat their mechanical issues by referring them out when suspected tethered tissue is intermingled with the biomechanical problems.
Real-time Treatment Videos
Several babies of different ages are shown receiving intra-oral treatment and you will hear comments on what is happening. You will learn tips to make the process smooth and easy for the baby, and do's and don'ts for babies with certain problems. It is not as daunting as one might think to treat inside the mouth!
What else can this course teach me?
Intra-oral treatment can do many things to promote good oral function. It can:
- relieve biomechanical restrictions
- help a baby pre- and post-operatively when a tethered oral tissue is present
- set up the pre-op patient for optimal success and less invasive surgery
- help a baby avoid unnecessary surgery
- improve latch, digestion, suck/swallow/breathe cycle
- improve jaw and nasal bone alignment for future growth
- and more!
