My appointment was a disappointment. I heard of Dr. Cockley through the Facebook group, “PA tongue ties.” Finding a practitioner who is currently informed with tongue tie issues, related therapies, TMJ, disordered sleep and breathing issues was/is important and a constant search where I live. There were two preferred providers suggested in this group I looked into and I had my tongue tie release done at the end of May with laser.
In my twenties a bout of anxiety led me to understanding the connection between mind and body. I had some disordered eating and full blown anxiety with weight. One day as I was browsing through self help books a title, “Mindful Eating” caught my eye. This started a journey of healing by listening to my body and its needs. Learning to treat my body with respect and reverence empowered me to make better choices. Along this ride I discovered yoga and breathing. In traditional yoga, the postures are done with strictly nasal breathing. I had always had difficulty with this but I noticed how my body felt. Fast forward to my late 20’s where my right molars started hurting. Sitting at a dentist appointment believing the pain to be from a cavity, dentist took a quick look and says, “You grind your teeth at night.” Later, laying in bed, in a google searching wormhole, trying to understand why I’m grinding, besides a known talked about factor like stress, I discovered orthotropics. Orthotropics is a type of treatment module, “ focused on proper and harmonious facial development. “ Dr. Mike Mew is the leading figure in this branch of dentistry and his YouTube videos helped me understand the importance of proper oral posture. Breathing through the nose and tongue resting on roof of mouth. As I listened to these videos, I became acutely aware of my oral dysfunction. As a youngster, in my orthodontics journey, my dentist noticed a tongue thrust issue. I remember him telling me I had a lazy tongue and I needed to build it up so it stopped . I was prescribed a daily exercise of holding this rubber band device with my tongue against my palate, slowly building “holding” time. I was told I would need to wear retainers for the rest of my life. Especially the bottoms, at least twice a week. I continued to wear the retainers into my early twenties until a stay at my cousins. Packing up from the weekend stay, I couldn’t find my retainer case holding my treasured devices. I noticed over the course of that semester my “ teeth feeling out of place .” During my next stay I helped clean the house and found my retainer under a living room chair embellished with bite marks. Lily, their beloved rescue dog, was known for going into peoples bags and getting into things. I learned this about her after discovering my retainer and chatting with them. I started to wear them again but noticed the tightness. I started not wearing them as much, mainly focusing on the bottoms and then eventually after wisdom tooth removal, not at all. So fast forward back to me learning about orthotropics and trying so hard to swallow correctly. At this point, now I’m 30, and dealing with jaw tightness, popping, clenching, becoming aware of my clenching, trying to relax, trying to breathe through my nose. Cutting out alcohol because even 1 glass causes a night of grinding. Ear fullness, forward head posture, back pain, immense neck and jaw pain. Feeling like my tongue is too big for my mouth, my bite not finding a home so badly that if I didn’t apply the pressure from my tongue on my palate, my jaw would clench, so hard. I start finding myo exercises online, practice those with incredible difficulty and tension. Noticing the tensions and compensations and trying again. Feeling unexplained teeth pain, so I try meeting with a dentist and I’m not getting clear answers.All the while following Sarah Hornsby, a leader in the field of myofunctional therapy. She has plenty of informative videos on YouTube and at this point I had been waking up feeling restless, fatigued, and dealing with brain fog. Her videos educated me on sleep disordered breathing. She herself dealt with a lot of these issues. She is now affiliated with “The Breathe Institute.” “The Breathe Institute is “a multidisciplinary center for precision diagnosis and comprehensive treatment of nasal obstruction, snoring, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and breathing disorders.” So now it’s post-COVID, and I am at a point in my journey where I’m taping my mouth at night, still waking up with some tooth, neck, and back pain. I feel for those with chronic pain and the role it takes in ones life. I join the tongue tied group on Facebook. I go to a consult with a functional dentist in my state an hours drive away, who is supposed to be aware of this issue. He clocks me as being 40% tongue tied but my jaw was in such pain and spasm he wanted to start a therapy called Trudenta. It’s a cold laser type therapy. I’m unhappy with this course of treatment because it’s not only costly but a temporary fix. I join the PA tongue tie group hoping to find practitioners and myofunctional therapist who understand the concepts I have mentioned. There are wonderful people in these groups who are so helpful and giving, albeit altruistic. I’m in a lot of pain at this point, and I call Dr. Cockleys office to see about getting in for a consult for a tongue tie release. I am told that unless I meet with a Myofunctional therapist we cannot go ahead with scheduling an appointment. I am not happy with this as I have been trying to find a Myofunctional therapist in my general area and feel I am already a step ahead because I’m aware and doing a lot of exercises. I also feel so strongly through my journey and education at this point that there is a physiological component . A physiological restriction. A hurdle I just can’t jump and I just want to meet to even discuss the option of a tongue tie re