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Monday 8am - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 7pm Friday 9am - 2pm

Smile Tone, 86 Brookes Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane (2026)

10/08/2026

🦷👅 Where does Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy fit into orthodontic care?

Orthodontic treatment is about much more than creating a beautiful smile.

It’s about creating a smile that is functional, stable and designed to last.

Orthodontics focuses on the structure of the teeth and jaws.

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy focuses on the function of the muscles that influence those structures every day.

OMT may be beneficial:

✅ Before orthodontic treatment
• Identifying habits such as mouth breathing, thumb sucking, tongue thrust and poor tongue posture.
• Preparing the orofacial muscles and oral posture to support efficient tooth movement.

✅ During orthodontic treatment
• Reinforcing healthy breathing, tongue posture and swallowing patterns.
• Supporting adaptation to braces or aligners through improved muscle coordination.

✅ After orthodontic treatment
• Helping maintain healthy oral habits.
• Supporting long-term stability by addressing persistent functional patterns that may contribute to relapse.

Teeth are constantly influenced by the gentle forces of the tongue, lips and cheeks.

When function and structure work together, they can complement one another in supporting long-term orthodontic outcomes.

At Smile Tone, we enjoy working collaboratively with orthodontists, dentists and other healthcare professionals to help patients achieve not only straighter teeth, but healthier function.

🦷 Orthodontics changes the hardware.
👅 OMT supports the software.
🤝 Together, they create a stronger foundation for lasting results.

08/08/2026

🧠👅 Smile Tone Clinical Skills Lab

There’s nothing like getting the whole team together, getting hands-on and learning from each other!

This week we held a Smile Tone Clinical Skills Lab, focusing on two areas we use within the clinic — MLS® Laser Therapy and Orofacial Release techniques.

We worked through our MLS laser protocols, treatment techniques and clinical decision-making for different presentations, including jaw and orofacial pain, muscle tension, inflammation, tissue recovery and post-procedure care.

Then it was time to get hands-on with our Orofacial Release techniques — refining how we assess and work with the jaw and facial muscles, tongue, floor of mouth, suprahyoid and infrahyoid regions, and the fascial and muscular connections throughout the head and neck.

One of the things we love about these sessions is being able to feel, practise, question and compare techniques with each other.

It also helps ensure that, while every clinician brings their own experience and skills to the treatment room, our team continues to develop a consistent clinical approach.

Because continuing education isn’t always about sitting in a lecture theatre.

Sometimes the best learning happens with your colleagues, a treatment chair, a laser… and everyone volunteering to be the patient! 😂

Always learning. Always refining. And always looking for better ways to support our patients. 💜🧡

®LaserTherapy

06/08/2026

👃 Could narrowing at the nose affect the airway further down?

The upper airway functions as one connected system—from the nostrils and nasal valve to the soft palate, tongue base and throat.

The nasal valve is one of the narrowest regions of the nasal airway. If its side wall draws inward during inhalation, airflow resistance can increase considerably.

This may result in:

• increased breathing effort
• a sensation of nasal blockage
• nasal flaring or visible nostril collapse
• mouth breathing
• snoring or disrupted sleep
• difficulty tolerating exercise or deeper breathing

When air has to move through a restricted nasal passage, stronger negative pressure may be generated during inhalation.

Further down, the pharynx is a soft, muscular and potentially collapsible tube. During sleep, the muscles that help hold it open naturally reduce their activity.

For someone who is already anatomically or neuromuscularly vulnerable, increased resistance upstream may contribute to narrowing around the soft palate, lateral throat walls or tongue base.

Nasal obstruction may also encourage mouth opening. This can alter jaw and tongue position and, in some people, increase the collapsibility of the pharyngeal airway.

However, nasal valve collapse does not automatically mean that someone has sleep apnoea.

Sleep-disordered breathing is multifactorial and may involve:

• nasal resistance
• enlarged tonsils or adenoids
• soft-palate or tongue-base collapse
• jaw and craniofacial structure
• sleep position
• reduced airway muscle responsiveness
• weight, hormones and other health factors

At Smile Tone, we observe nasal airflow, breathing effort, mouth posture, tongue function and signs that further airway assessment may be appropriate.

Depending on the findings, patients may be directed to an ENT, sleep physician, dentist, orthodontist or other relevant healthcare professional.

Because improving breathing starts with understanding where the resistance is occurring—and why.

30/07/2026

👅 The tongue is only as free as the tissues beneath it.

When people think about tongue function, they often focus on the tongue itself.

But underneath the tongue lies a complex network of muscles, fascia, nerves, blood vessels and connective tissue known as the floor of the mouth.

For the tongue to lift, elevate, retract and move efficiently during chewing, swallowing, speech and nasal breathing, these tissues need to glide smoothly.

When the floor of the mouth is under excessive tension, the tongue may compensate by recruiting other muscles or adopting less efficient movement patterns.

This may contribute to:
• reduced tongue mobility
• difficulty maintaining tongue-to-palate posture
• compensatory swallowing patterns
• jaw and neck tension
• clenching
• altered speech production
• inefficient chewing
• mouth breathing in some individuals

At Smile Tone, we don’t just look at the tongue.

We assess the entire orofacial system.

Our Orofacial Release sessions combine neuromyofascial techniques, gentle intra-oral release, MLS laser photobiomodulation and myofunctional therapy to help optimise tissue mobility and support more efficient function.

It’s important to remember that every person is different. Tissue tension is just one of many factors that can influence tongue function, alongside anatomy, airway health, neuromuscular control and overall health.

✨ Sometimes improving function starts by creating a better environment for movement.

27/07/2026

😬🦷 Are your teeth touching right now?

If you’re not eating, swallowing or speaking…

they probably shouldn’t be.

One of the foundational principles of healthy orofacial function is:

👄 Lips together
👅 Tongue on the palate
🦷 Teeth apart
👃 Breathe through the nose

Many people are surprised to learn that the teeth are not designed to remain in contact throughout the day.

Yet chronic daytime clenching and nighttime grinding are incredibly common.

Why?

Because clenching isn’t always just a habit.

For some people, it may be a subconscious strategy to improve stability and sensory feedback.

This can occur in association with:
• hypermobility and joint instability
• airway and breathing challenges
• poor tongue posture
• sleep disruption
• postural compensation patterns
• nervous system dysregulation

The body is constantly adapting.

Sometimes the jaw becomes part of that adaptation.

Over time, however, excessive clenching may contribute to:
• headaches
• jaw pain
• tooth wear
• facial tension
• TMJ symptoms

Understanding why the body is clenching is often just as important as addressing the clenching itself.

🦷 Teeth are for chewing food.
Not for holding your body together.

28/06/2026

📚✈️ Never stop learning. Never stop asking why.

This week, Cheree has been attending an advanced course with Dr Steve Olmos, expanding her knowledge in sleep medicine, temporomandibular disorders (TMD) and motor nerve reflex testing, and the complex interactions between breathing, the nervous system and orofacial function.

One of the things we’re most passionate about at Smile Tone is looking beyond the symptoms.

Jaw pain, headaches, poor sleep, mouth breathing, clenching, fatigue or facial tension rarely occur in isolation. They’re often the result of multiple interacting factors involving the airway, muscles, joints, nervous system and overall health.

Courses like these continue to reinforce an important principle:

The body is always trying to adapt.

Our role isn’t simply to treat a symptom—it’s to understand why that symptom is occurring in the first place.

Sometimes the most valuable outcome of an assessment isn’t a treatment…

It’s helping someone understand the underlying contributors to their symptoms and guiding them towards the right health professionals to support their care.

The more we learn, the better we can connect the dots, collaborate with our colleagues, and help our patients navigate their health journey with confidence.

Because the goal isn’t just symptom relief…

It’s understanding the whole picture.

🧠 Keep learning.
🤝 Keep collaborating.
❤️ Keep putting patients first.

22/06/2026

🎨👅🦶 Karina’s talents don’t stop at the clinic…

Many of our patients know Karina as a caring and skilled Orofacial Myofunctional Therapist, but what you may not know is that she’s also a talented artist.

Karina recently painted this beautiful canvas representing the fascinating connections between the tongue, the body, and even the feet through the fascial system.

The body isn’t simply a collection of separate parts.

Instead, it’s connected by a continuous web of connective tissue called fascia, which helps transmit force, movement, sensory information and tension throughout the body.

One fascial pathway that has received increasing attention is the Deep Front Line, described by anatomist and bodyworker Thomas Myers.

This line runs from the feet and legs, through the pelvis, diaphragm, throat and tongue, creating a fascinating “inside core” connection throughout the body.

Researchers and clinicians continue to explore how tongue posture, breathing patterns, fascial tension and whole-body posture may influence one another.

While there is still much to learn, it’s a fascinating reminder that the tongue doesn’t function in isolation.

At Smile Tone, we love these conversations about the connections between breathing, posture, movement and oral function.

And we love discovering hidden talents within our team too!

Well done, Karina — artist and therapist extraordinaire. 🎨✨

Hashtags

08/06/2026

🧠😴 ADHD and sleep: a connection worth understanding

Children who aren’t sleeping well don’t always look tired.

In fact, poor sleep can sometimes show up as:
• hyperactivity
• difficulty concentrating
• impulsivity
• emotional dysregulation
• behavioural challenges

Research has identified a relationship between sleep quality and attention, learning, memory, and behaviour.

Many children diagnosed with ADHD also experience sleep difficulties, including:
• snoring
• mouth breathing
• restless sleep
• sleep-disordered breathing

This doesn’t mean sleep causes ADHD.

But it does mean sleep deserves attention.

When assessing a child’s wellbeing, it’s important to consider the whole picture — including how they’re breathing and sleeping.

Because healthy sleep supports healthy development.

07/06/2026

👅✨ What does good tongue movement actually look like?

A healthy tongue should do much more than just “stick out.”

Good tongue function includes the ability to:
✔ lift to the palate comfortably
✔ move side to side
✔ elevate without the jaw excessively compensating
✔ maintain suction to the palate
✔ coordinate during chewing and swallowing
✔ move with precision — not just force

At rest, the tongue should also sit gently against the palate with the lips comfortably closed and breathing occurring through the nose.

(Pause)

Some signs tongue movement may not be functioning optimally can include:
• difficulty lifting the tongue
• excessive jaw movement during tongue tasks
• tongue thrusting
• messy chewing
• low tongue posture
• mouth breathing
• speech compensation patterns

The tongue is part of a much bigger system involving breathing, posture, swallowing and airway function.

So when we assess the tongue…

we’re not just asking:
👉 “Can it move?”

We’re asking:
👉 “How well does it function within the whole system?”

👅 Mobility matters.
🧠 Coordination matters more.

31/05/2026

👅😮 Signs enlarged tonsils may be affecting orofacial function

Enlarged tonsils don’t always present as repeated infections or sore throats.

Sometimes the impact is more functional.

Because large tonsils can influence how a child:
• breathes
• chews
• swallows
• rests their tongue
• and holds their mouth posture.

Some common signs may include:
• open-mouth posture
• snoring or restless sleep
• difficulty nasal breathing
• low tongue posture
• messy chewing
• drooling
• speech differences
• forward head posture

Children often adapt remarkably well…

which means these patterns can become “normal” for them over time.

Assessment is about understanding how the airway and orofacial system are functioning together.

👃 Airway influences function.
👅 Function influences growth.

Smile Tone

10/08/2026

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Monday	8am - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 7pm
Friday	9am - 2pm