Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is increasingly common sleep disorder with heterogeneity in clinical presentation and pathophysiology. In recent years, contributing causes or phenotypes have been identified and includ: airway collapsibility, impaired pharyngeal dilator muscle function, lowered arousal threshold and loop gain.

Increased understanding of the pathophysiology and phenotyping of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) traits can improve the success rate of targeted treatment such as myofunctional therapy, alone or in combination with other treatments in mild and moderate OSA. This highlights the need for further research and the need to develop simple phenotyping tools for SDB related muscle function.

Orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) represents a novel, non-invasive strategy to treat sleep disordered breathing including OSA (Guilleminault 2013, Camacho 2015, Camacho 2018). Recent evidence has supported its usage in children with residual OSA following adenotonsillectomy (Villa 2015, Guilleminault 2017, Felicio 2018). Further, OMT may represent a novel paradigm of therapy that may prevent pediatric OSA (Sullivan 2017). Standardized treatment modalities, models for detection of orofacial myofunctional disorders, and clear understanding of the related phenotypes, however, are yet to be established.

This symposium will critically evaluate the recent evidence on OMT, while exploring what is known clinically that may be of immediate interest to those working in sleep medicine who wish to apply a robust, multidisciplinary approach including ENT, orthodontic, pulmonary, and OMT intervention.