If you’ve been struggling with symptoms like poor sleep, chronic fatigue, jaw pain, snoring, tongue tie, or orthodontic relapse, and feel like you’ve been searching for answers without getting to the root cause—you’re not alone.
And you’re exactly the kind of patient Bernalea loves helping.
Bernalea’s journey into myofunctional therapy didn’t begin as a career goal. It began as a mother searching for answers for her own family.
She received her Dental Hygiene degree in 2004 from San Juan College in New Mexico, where she spent years developing a deep foundation in dentistry while working alongside incredible dental professionals. She loved living in New Mexico and still misses the sunshine and desert air to this day.
In 2018, her husband’s career moved their family to New York—a huge change from the sunny Southwest. While practicing there, Bernalea worked with a dentist who opened her eyes to the connection between dentistry, airway health, sleep, and orofacial dysfunction.
It was a turning point.
Around the same time, Bernalea began noticing signs of dysfunction within her own home. Her family struggled with issues like lip ties, bedwetting, snoring, sleep apnea, malocclusion, allergies, TMJ symptoms, and attention concerns. Like many families, they went from doctor to doctor looking for answers.
Too often, the solution offered was simply medication—or the concerns were dismissed entirely.
But Bernalea knew something deeper was going on.
As she dove deeper into the world of orofacial myology, everything began to make sense. She realized that poor tongue posture, dysfunctional oral habits, and airway issues were often the missing link behind many chronic symptoms.
So she started implementing what she was learning with her own family.
The results were powerful—and life changing.
That experience ignited a passion that would completely reshape her career.
Bernalea went on to complete extensive training through the International Association of Orofacial Myology (IAOM) and became a Certified Myofunctional Therapist. Today she specializes in helping patients struggling with:
• Sleep-disordered breathing
• TMJ / TMJD
• Tongue tie and restricted oral tissues
• Orthodontic relapse and tongue thrust
• Chronic mouth breathing
• Orofacial muscle dysfunction
She also provides pre- and post-frenectomy therapy to ensure patients achieve the best possible outcomes following tongue or lip tie release.
Now based in Texas, Bernalea works closely with dentists, physicians, and airway-focused providers to help patients restore proper breathing, tongue posture, swallowing patterns, and muscle function.
Her mission is simple:
Help patients understand the “why” behind their symptoms and guide them toward lasting functional change.
Because better sleep, less pain, improved breathing, and a healthier life often begin with something many people never realize matters…
How the muscles of the mouth and tongue function every day.
If you’ve been searching for answers and feel like something has been overlooked, Bernalea would love to help you discover whether myofunctional therapy could be the missing piece.
