A protocol for oral myofunctional assessment: for application with children.

The purpose of this research was to compare oral myofunctional disorder characteristics in subjects with tongue thrust and in subjects with no such disorder, and to suggest a protocol for oral myofunctional assessment, involving the most relevant characteristics for this diagnosis. The present study used 36 subjects with various disorders enrolled in the Speech-Language Pathology Department of Health Center "Escola Professor Samuel Barnsley Pessoa". Results showed that the main characteristics differentiating subjects with oral myofunctional disorders from those without it and, therefore important diagnostic considerations, are: hole in the feeding-bottle, nipple used in the feeding-bottle, breathing deviations, lips rest posture (information obtained from a person responsible for the subject), lips and tongue resting posture (information obtained from assessment), lip tonus, hard palate, swallow, breathing and occlusion.