KenmoreMyo Team

About Michael Chop

For many years Dave has operated solo, in 2024 Michael joined the KenmoreMyo team as our practice administrative assistant. He comes from a strong background of leadership and customer support and is eager to help patients on their journey to find health.

He is highly motivated and eager to learn, advance, and excel in his work. Always places an emphasis on clear communication and treating others with respect. He shares a similar drive with Dave in wanting to be able to help bring patients and their families closer to health, happiness, and joy through his work.

About Dave Henrichsen

Dave Henrichsen is an oral myofunctional therapist in the Seattle area who focuses on healthy outcomes with patients with mouth breathing, tongue thrust, snoring, sleep apnea, tongue tie, TMJ pain and other myofunctional concerns.

After many years in the dental field he has found profound negative impacts of tongue tie, low tongue posture, mouth breathing and dysfunctional swallow patterns. The evidence of lifetimes of dysfunction has driven him to search for ways to help patients achieve normal function for a lifetime of health.

He has a strong desire to provide quality care, education, and therapy to all of his patients, and he wants to help people understand the incredible benefits of the therapy he provides. Dave has received training from some of the greatest minds in myofunctional sciences, airway and breath work including: Sarah Hornsby, Dr. Soroush Zaghi, Patrick McKowen, Timothy King, and Dr. Richard Baxter.

Dave is a member of The American Dental Hygienists Association, International Association of Airway Hygienists, American Academy of Dental Hygiene, is an educator for the Myomentor Institute, is a Breathe Institute Ambassador, and is a sought after speaker and presenter on topics of airway & myofunctional disorders, myofunctional therapy, and myofunctional business development.

Dave’s Journey

Dave’s journey into myofunctional therapy began with one of his dental hygiene patients — a 7-year-old girl who was a mouth breather and had a thumb sucking habit. Dave tried to contact several professionals to help her but didn’t get a response. Six months later he saw the same little girl again. “I could see that her bite was opening up, which is not good, and I realized we had to do something to help her,” says Dave. And then came the “aha” moment. “I realized that the reason she couldn’t stop sucking her thumb was because she was using it for a reason. It turned out that she had a tongue tie and needed her thumb to open up her airway.” With a tongue tie release procedure and myofunctional therapy, the little girl was able to open up her airway, stop sucking her thumb, and return to healthy breathing through her nose. 

This experience was a turning point for Dave. He began to realize that dysfunction can have its roots as early as childhood and infancy. Oral restrictions can cause babies and children to unconsciously resort to dysfunctional behaviors due to an oral restriction in order to survive. He started learning about tongue position, and nose breathing and putting the tongue on the roof of the mouth. Dave realized that the best way he could help people achieve a lifetime of health was to get an education in myofunctional therapy.

Supporting Healthy Human Development

“We are all built to do certain things with our bones and our muscles,” says Dave, “My job is to teach you how to use them the right way.” Most myofunctional issues arise when your body adapts in order to survive. “The human body is extremely resilient and we will find a way to live even if it is not ideal. My mission is to help you get you back to physiologic normal.” 

In his myofunctional therapy practice Dave teaches normal function both to children and adults. Sometimes therapy requires a tongue tie release procedure Dave helps people prepare for tongue tie release procedure and restore healthy function post-procedure. Those that do not need a tongue tie release procedure often need help controling the muscles of their tongue, face and the functions of their nose.

Before entering the dental field, Dave worked for many years with the Boy Scouts and was a camp director for 8 years. He draws upon this experience mentoring and guiding young adults and the teenage population in their transition from childhood to adulthood. “Many of my patients are in this window in which my youth development experience is very useful in helping them succeed at therapy.” Dave brings an energy and contagious enthusiasm to all of his patient interactions that make therapy engaging and fun.

How do myofunctional issues affect overall health?

Dave often uses analogies to help explain how myofunctional issues affect overall health. For example, if your body is a car and the air pressure in one tire is low, it will affect the alignment of the vehicle and the life of the tire. If you can’t put the tongue tip on the roof of your mouth to swallow, you will develop unhealthy patterns. As time goes on you may develop problems with your jaw joint and teeth. This can lead to cavities, gum disease, snoring, and even sleep apnea. These issues can be related to high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, and inability to handle stress. The tip of the tongue is like the tip of the iceberg when it comes to overall health. It's all about disease prevention. 

Untangling behavior and function for better health

Dave’s patient-centered philosophy seeks to find the root cause of dysfunction. “With an infant, it is a much straighter path,” says Dave, “It is so much harder for adults with tongue tie because they have layers of compensation and dysfunctional behaviors such as mouth breathing.” The later a tongue tie is caught, the more difficult it is to correct behavior. “If you are an adult with tongue tie, your whole body is trying to help compensate for your restriction. The further you are along that path, the harder it is to untangle.”

Dave’s approach to myofunctional therapy

Dave begins by asking key questions such as: Why can’t you get your lips sealed together? Do you have sleep apnea? Is this a tongue tie issue? How do you chew? How do you swallow? What can your physiological features tell about your health? Then he guides his patients with a plan that includes muscle isolation, breathing therapies, suctioning skills, learning to breathe through the nose, and re-learning how to swallow and breathe properly. 

Dave pays close attention to his patient’s life history and background. “I want to understand how you grew and developed physically,” says Dave, “Then we work together to create a plan to get you as close to physiological normal as possible so that your body can function in the most beneficial way for you.” Dave collaborates with other myofunctional therapists, surgeons, dentists, orthodontists, osteopaths, and chiropractors to make sure his patients have a team of specialized support. 

“Find health providers who will listen to you, who are open to learning, and who truly care about how you and your child are doing. I often meet parents who have been to multiple doctors trying to get them to understand that their child has tongue tie or other myofunctional disorder. The most important thing is finding a provider who listens and truly seeks to understand what you are going through.”

Dave is a guide on the path to health

As a caring, compassionate and skilled health care provider Dave will help you find the path to health. He will use his experience and relationships to help you build the team of healthcare providers you need to bring myofunctional health and breath into your life.