Myo Life

Transcript

Hey, I'm Carmen and welcome to Myo Life. That's short for my outrageous life, which is exactly the kind of life I get to live since I found the courage to ditch dental hygiene and build a life I'm bonkers about as a myofunctional therapist and entrepreneur. Here you will find all the things myo business and how to build a life that you, too, are bonkers about. I'm very happy you're here. Shall we dive in?
Hey there, and welcome back to the show. I am Carmen Woodland, I am your host, and today we are diving into what makes a myofunctional exam truly impactful. So not from a technical, not from a step-by-step perspective, but as a strategic tool to connect with potential clients and guide them towards life-changing therapy.
So this episode—The Anatomy of a Great Myofunctional Exam—is all about helping you see the exam as more than just an assessment. It's the bridge that turns curiosity into commitment or, better said, turns curiosity into cash. That's the important part. So, whether you're a seasoned myofunctional therapist or you are just starting out, this episode is going to give you actionable insights to maximize the impact and conversion of your exams. Are you ready? Let's dive in.
Okay, so I have some notes here and I am just going to riff.
So first of all, let's talk about why a myofunctional exam is crucial. You have to know what's going on with the human. How do you know you can help them if you're not doing an exam? Also, it's really important to complete this step for you to be able to write a report to send to other practitioners.
I answer so many emails about people saying, "Hey, I don't know if you can help me." Like, I don't know if I can help you until I do an exam on you.
And sometimes that's hard because people don't necessarily want to pay for an exam if they don’t know that you can help them. That is where the free assessment comes in. In my case, because I no longer do free assessments, that's when having a bum-diggity website really comes in, because they're able to go to my website and figure out whether what their concerns are is something that I can help with.
So that's important. Also, when you do a myofunctional exam, this helps you determine the steps for therapy. Is a sleep study needed? Do we need airway intervention first? Are there patent nasal passages, or do they need to see an ENT to get roto-rooted out before they can actually start to learn how to nasal breathe?
When will a release happen? So if there's a frenectomy that's needed, when is that going to happen? Knowing the information that you get from the exam is going to help you figure out what's going on.
Yes, I have a tongue tie in this situation, but we also have behavior issues, not sleeping well, poor grades in school, and all of this stuff for a kiddo. That points to airway crisis, and we know that airway trumps everything. So we have to start there.
And now, the other reason that a myofunctional exam I really think is crucial is because it helps you figure out if you want to work with this person. I talk a lot about this. I do think it's really important that you have a personality connection.
The clients that I see on my roster are people that bring a smile and joy to my heart to see on my calendar. Now, when I was a new therapist and desperate—and I get it, everybody does it—but I would work with anybody. Man, if they had a pulse and a wallet, a pulse and a Visa, I would work with them.
Not so much anymore.
So when you have the opportunity to do an exam, you can kind of feel that out.
Are they your ideal, dreamiest, easiest client?
Don't make the mistakes that I did and try and work with everybody. That's the take-home message there.
So we're going to break down the pieces of an exam. Now you know why it's really crucial. You have to know what's going on. Let's talk about the pieces that I think make it a great exam.
Okay, so first: the intro.
We're going to go intro, info, symptom snapshot, function, bridge the gap, logistics.
Okay, let's dive in.
The Introduction
Why are they here?
You're doing an exam—why did they book it?
Did somebody refer them?
That's always important to know because if they were referred by a practitioner, I know that that practitioner has probably a certain protocol.
Info Gathering
This is the info-gathering stage.
My friend, you have to listen. This is where you're going to be getting a lay of the land.
Identify what they want. Is it realistic? Can you get them there? Do you want to get them there?
This goes back to finding the easiest, dreamiest client.
What have they tried? What has worked? What hasn't?
For example, if somebody is telling you what they really want is straight teeth, you have to ask: "What have you already done?"
If they say, "I've done ortho," obviously the conversation shifts.
But if their concern is sleep, you ask: "Okay, what have they tried? What has worked? What hasn’t?"
You're just getting a lay of the land.
Symptom Snapshot
Now, this is where you're going to be reviewing symptom paperwork, asking questions.
I use something called discovery paperwork.
It includes all of the symptoms that I want information on. It has medical history. It has the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Pittsburgh Sleep Study for children, the Pediatric Sleep Questionnaire, and the Quality of Life Score.
So there’s lots of different things that I put into this, and then I just start reviewing that.
That is what helps me determine what I need to dig deeper into.
Some people are really good at filling in their paperwork—like, really, really good—and others leave most everything blank. That means that I have to dig a little bit deeper.
So, as you're doing your symptom snapshot, you're looking at things that you need to take a deeper dive on.
I always take a deeper dive on breathing.
How are they breathing?
I do a breathing assessment. I evaluate whether they have shallow thoracic breathing. Did they have trouble? Did they have resistance? Was it obvious that it was completely unnatural to them? Could they do it? Could they not do it?
Functional Assessment
After I’ve done the intro, gathered info, and reviewed symptoms, now I’m ready to move into the functional assessment.
This is where I evaluate oral function and identify concerns related to tongue tie and tongue mobility.
Bridging the Gap
Now, bridging the gap is where you're considering where they are, where they want to go, and how you’re going to get them there.
When I’m taking notes during somebody’s exam, I’m constantly writing notes for something that I can use to bridge the gap.
You have to listen to what they have mentioned, and you want to make sure that you cover that.
Therapy Presentation & Logistics
Once I move somebody through these steps of an exam, then I will move into therapy presentation.
How was the function?
Did they fail at everything?
Did they struggle?
What did I see?
Then, we move right into the logistics—what therapy looks like, how often we do therapy, what my therapy packages entail, etc.
Final Thoughts
So that, in a nutshell, is what I believe makes a great myofunctional exam.
If you are already in business and you need to drill down on some of these concepts, then we probably have a course for that.
Thank you for tuning in to The Anatomy of a Great Myofunctional Exam.
Don’t forget to subscribe, and if this episode resonated with you, share it with a fellow therapist!
That’s a wrap, my friend—I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, keep building a life that you are bonkers about.
Bye for now!