Hey there,
I'm Liz, a registered dental hygienist and myofunctional therapist.
I have worked in the dental field since 2011 when I started as a sterilization technician in a surgical clinic at the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Dentistry in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I ultimately ended up graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene in 2015.
Since school, I have worked in several private practice settings as a dental hygienist. In the various offices I have worked in, I have learned about neuromuscular dentistry, implant and sedation dentistry, how to treat more advanced cases of periodontal disease, along with patient and practice management skills.
For anyone that knows me, it's pretty common knowledge that I love being organized and creating systems and forms to make work easier and more efficient. My love language is office supplies! (And houseplants, but that's a different discussion.)
Although I do love a good notebook, my greatest passion and obsession has grown significantly in the last few years, so let's talk about airway dentistry.
In 2018, a coworker asked me to attend a continuing education course with her in a different state, about a 3-hour drive. She didn't want to go alone, and I'm a bit of a CE junkie, so a road trip was planned. We attended the 2018 International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM) conference and learned SO MUCH information. My head couldn't even begin to absorb all of the information presented in the course, but my greatest takeaway was this - I was finally able to connect the dots for why so many of my patients "looked" healthy but still lived in a state of disease and chronic stress.
In hygiene school, they taught us about the systemic impacts of untreated periodontal disease, but they never really mentioned much about airway or tongue ties. In fact, as I got deeper into the field of airway dentistry, I realized (along with numerous others) that airway assessments are often never even discussed in dental and/or medical schools. Because of this, we're now living with a "hidden" epidemic of sleep-disordered breathing and the developmental, physiological, and behavioral consequences that come along with it.
Since my initial course about myofunctional therapy in 2018, I have worked in airway-centric dental offices that utilize airway appliances such as Vivos Therapeutics Oral Appliance Therapy, MyoMunchee, and HealthyStart along with expansion orthodontics and ENT and myofunctional therapy referrals to address airway concerns. I have watched as patients connect the dots themselves on why they feel so fatigued and sluggish even with routine exercise and an overall healthy diet. I have watched patients during myofunctional assessments and exercises, and I have been chairside as patients receive their functional frenuloplasties. That's where my true obsession leads me - think Dr. Pimple Popper but a frenectomy instead. So fun to watch!
Wanting to know more, I have taken additional courses about airway evaluations and treatments through Dr. Zaghi's The Breathe Institute, Sarah Hornsby's MyoMentor program, and I attended Airway Palooza in March 2024!
My desire to learn more about what I can do to provide better care for my patients led me to join Amber Auger's Thrive in the Op® mentorship program in 2021. Being a part of her program has helped me understand more of what I want out of my dental career. I even joined Amber's staff as her research assistant in 2022, so now I have even more excuses to read research and learn new things every day, and I LOVE it. She has been slowly bringing me into the functional side of dentistry, and I can't imagine all the new knowledge I will continue to learn from her and others in this "new" age of dentistry.
For those wondering, functional dentistry and medicine look past putting bandaids on symptoms and focus on identifying the true cause of diseased states for patients - hence, Root Cause Resolutions! I am constantly looking for more information and researching what I can do better for myself, my family and friends, and my patients in terms of whole-body health.
My constant search for ways of treating my patients at an elevated standard of care has led me to find a new clinical role where I am providing dental hygiene care along with in-office myofunctional therapy. My favorite part about this new office is that I found one of the few - if not the only - functional and biological dental offices in my area! I truly didn't think this existed where I live - come on, Midwest. Step it up!
As I learn and grow more in my functional and airway-focused career, I will share more of my findings with anyone who cares to read this blog. My ultimate goal is to share long-term case studies of my periodontal and myofuncitonal therapy patients on this site for other providers and non-providers to discuss and share insights and feedback on so we can all learn together and develop more access to knowledge about building whole-body health.
Talk soon,
Liz Laney, Myofunctional Therapist
Important note: although I am a dental hygienist via my degree and initial training, any myofunctional therapy services I provide are provided outside of my dental hygiene services, and no dental hygiene services are provided in conjunction with myofunctional therapy.
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