Welcome to the "Airway Answers with Nicole Goldfarb: Expanding your Breath of Knowledge". In this episode, Nicole Goldfarb, M.A. CCC, SLP- COM® interviews Joy Moeller, RDH, BS, AOMT-C, COM®". Joy is a legend in the field of dental hygiene and orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT), and she has helped educate patients, practitioners, and new therapists in OMT, and she has also helped to pave the way for OMT to be part of the treatment plan for airway issues. In this interview, Joy talks about the: 👅 The Tongue: A Powerful, Overlooked Organ! 👅, and she shares groundbreaking insights into the tongue's critical role in overall health and well-being. 🤯
Get ready to learn:
⭐️The shocking story of how Moeller's own son's life was transformed through myofunctional therapy after suffering years of debilitating headaches! 😲
⭐️How the tongue, often overlooked, acts as a respiratory organ, impacting breathing, sleep, and brain function. 🧠
⭐️The epigenetic factors contributing to the rise in myofunctional disorders, including the decline in breastfeeding. 🤱
⭐️The importance of early intervention and prevention, especially for children, to avoid lifelong health challenges.
⭐️Moeller's vision for a future medical specialty dedicated to disorders of the tongue, revolutionizing healthcare. 🩺
Listen as Moeller passionately advocates for:
☑️ Recognizing the tongue's crucial role in the body.
☑️ Integrating myofunctional therapy into medical and dental curriculums.
☑️ Collaborating across disciplines for holistic patient care.
☑️ Empowering patients with knowledge and proactive solutions.
Don't miss this eye-opening interview! It will forever change the way you think about the tongue and its impact on your health. 🎙️
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ABOUT THE GUEST:
Joy Moeller, BS, RDH is a dental hygienist, author and formally an associate professor at Indiana University, who has worked as a myofunctional therapist for many years and currently has a private practice in Pacific Palisades, California.
Joy is founding lecturer with the Academy of Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy (AOMT) and a founding board member with the AAMS. She has taught post-graduate courses in Myofunctional Therapy at universities and hospitals world- wide. Joy wrote a chapter in Sleep Medicine Clinics, a chapter in Sleep-Disorders in Pediatric Dentistry, a chapter in Management of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, a textbook for Oral Surgeons in 2021 and a children’s book on tongue position as well as many published studies and other chapters in textbooks.
Joy has lectured world-wide and was invited to speak at Grand Rounds at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, to Stanford Sleep Residency program and was the first myofunctional therapist to be on staff at the Pankey Institute. She currently teaches with the Palo Alto school of sleep medicine and taught for 7 years with UCLA dental sleep post-graduate program and the Pedo-Ortho residency. Joy received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the AAPMD (American Academy of Physiologic Medicine and Dentistry) the Louis Pasteur Award from the AAMS (Association of Applied Myofunctional Sciences) in Rome in 2013, and the Richard Barrett Achievement Award in 2023 from the IAOM.
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ABOUT THE HOST:
Nicole Goldfarb, M.A. CCC, SLP- COM® is a Speech-Language Pathologist, Certified Orofacial Myologist, an International speaker, and author.

She is the owner of San Diego Center For Speech Therapy & Myofunctional Therapy. She currently serves as a mentor and consultant to patients, professionals, and colleagues nationally and internationally in the field of OMT.
Website: www.SanDiegoCenterforSpeechTherapy.com.
Contact Nicole: Nicole@MouthExercises.com.