Meet Mary Frances Gonzalez

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My name is Mary Frances Gonzalez, and I am the owner of Sound Mouths, and I work with moms, children, and adults to help them in airway breathing and sleep. Wonderful. I can't wait to learn more about just everything you do. So for... Mary Fran- Frances, for listeners meeting you for the first time, can you share a little bit about your background and what led you into speech pathology, myofunctional therapy, and ultimately creating Sound Mouths? Okay. Well, I've been a practicing speech-language pathologist for 25 years, and I discovered myofunctional therapy when my own son was very little and suffering from sleep-disordered breathing. And as every good mother does, we try to find the solutions, so I got trained to initially help my son, and with that knowledge, I'm able to help other people to find the ever-winding road to the end. Got it. So you're really speaking from personal experience with your son sorting out to, you know, learn how to help him. I think that's amazing. And you've shared that your work is really about helping people connect the dots before the body has to get louder. What does that mean to you? So a lot of children, men, and adults walk around just feeling not their best. They wake up unrefreshed, their jaws are, are sore, they have neck pain, back pain, and they just don't wake up refreshed. And my work connects the dots between those everyday symptoms and deeper patterns in breathing, sleep, and muscle function of the mouth. Very interesting. A lot of, like, moving parts and pieces to, to think about. Yes. And kinda going with that, so many people feel like something is off in their body, but they're told everything is normal. Why do you think that happens so often? Well, I think in today's medicine, we tend to look at- symptoms in isolation, right? So you go to the doctor, you ask about a cold, but you also have another symptom. They're like,"No, make another appointment. We're gonna deal with that." But the body doesn't work like that. We don't work in isolation. We're completely connected from head to toe. So you just can't look at one without looking at all the other areas. Understandable. It's a great advice, too, for all of us to just kind of keep in the back of our mind. And are there any other symptoms you hear about, you know, just every week that people often dismiss as stress, age, hormones, or simply being busy? Uh, that happens every day in my office. And I do have to say, I feel like women are underserved. They're, whether they're a mother or a working or a high-level professional, they chalk up a lot of these symptoms that I see, which is, you know, unrestful sleep, dry mouth, tension in the neck and the back. They talk it, they chalk it up to just being stressed or hormones or perimenopause or menopause. So they really get, I believe, underserved. And so I see a lot of that when I'm working with someone's child. The mom will chime in,"Ooh, I didn't know that was a symptom," or,"Ooh, I have that too." So I see a lot of those symptoms not only in the children that I serve, but in the adults. Got it. They kind of see those, those symptoms and think,"Huh, that sounds familiar." Yeah. Definitely. And you know, you've said that a lot of women are not tired because they're weak, they are tired because their body is compensating. Can you explain that a little bit? Well, women tend to be fixers, rescuers. They take everything on. But the symptoms that they're getting, which again, are a lot of them, a lot of the times it's that they're unrested or they just don't feel their very best. They will always chalk it up to something else. But really sometimes it just, it's the body whispering to you like,"You need to let go. We have some things we need to address." And it starts really in the mouth. Very, that's so interesting. And it's like with our mouth, I mean, we use it every day to eat, talk everything. So it's really fascinating how it can affect so many different things with our body. Well, it's connected to your, your mouth you use for breathing, chewing, swallowing. It works with your posture, your alignment, and your nervous system. I mean, the cranial nerves that you use to chew and swallow are the same cranial nerves to help reset your nervous system. Absolutely. So it's all so interca- connected. When someone comes to you, what are they usually asking for on the surface, and what do you often discover is happening underneath? W- when they come to me, they usually come with a symptom. Mouth breathing is the biggest one that I hear. But really, there's so much to peel back, that onion of layers to look at. So we're looking at everything. From the minute they walk in, you know, I watch their walk, I watch their posture, where their lips are, where their tongue is, and then obviously we do the assessment. But the thing is that you can't look at one without realizing there's a couple layers underneath it we still have to address. Absolutely. And kind of going into that, you often talk about, you know, getting to the root cause. You know, looking at the whole system. It's so important, instead of only treating one symptom at a time. Is there anything you'd wanna add to that piece? Well, I think not looking at root cause is just a Band-Aid fix, and I do feel like a lot of Western medicine, there is definitely a time and place for it, but the solutions are always a small Band-Aid. So physicians and providers are starting to look at root cause healing, because that's what we have to do to get to the bottom line. You can't fix the top layer without getting to the real reason that's behind it, because the body is compensating, but there's a reason behind that. Mm-hmm. There's a reason for it. And kind of a pivot, you're connected with the airway mouth doctors in the work with Dr. Felix Liao. How has that shaped the way you look at breathing, sleep, jaw development, and just long-term health? So Dr. Felix Liao is an innovator in the area of airway breathing, and he has coined a term, impaired mouth syndrome. And what that is, is a s- series of health symptoms that have oral contributions, meaning it stems from the beginning of your mouth, and that can be mouth breathing, it can be, um, deficient maxilla or mandible, like your upper or lower jaw, it could be tongue tie enlarged tonsils and adenoids. So what he is saying and what he has taught me that there, there is a biological aspect to everybody, and then there's an epigenetic. So the environment that they're in, the food that they eat the clothes that they wear on their body. Like there's a, there's... The body needs more than just the medical aspect. We have to look at everything. And the biggest thing is that nowadays our jaws are getting a lot smaller. There's a lot of research out there. There's a book called Jaws, and it talks about how our jaws are getting smaller and smaller. I mean, think about teenagers today. Is there a teen that doesn't have palatal expansion? There's not. Braces used to be- infrequent. Now it's a rite of passage. Yep. And so what's happening in our environment? We're using sippy cups more. We're using those pouches. We're not chewing like they used to do back in the day. And so that is leading to deficient jaws, and Dr. Liao is sharing that impaired mouth syndrome is contributing to whole body health. It's re- negatively impacting whole body health. Huh. I never knew that. And I think that's a lot of thing... That's something that a lot of people can overlook too. We don't even think about, you know, how that has kind of evolved over time. I mean, y- every kid seems to be in braces these days needing a lot of work, so. Braces, crowded teeth- Yeah mouth breathing, serious allergies. We have... And we live in northern Virginia and there's allergies everywhere. Well, when you have nasal congestion, you're gonna have to find a way to breathe, so you're gonna breathe through your mouth. The tongue drops low and down, and the jaws start to get smaller. Wow. A lot of different factors involved. Right. And you also mentioned that this can also be important for people entering a new phase of life, whether that is, you know, retirement, a legacy season, or simply wanting to feel better for what comes next. Why is the body such an important foundation for that next chapter as we start aging? Well, we're living longer, and I'm... Everyone's goal is to live longer and be independent and to be healthy. And I think raising children, having your career, and finally hit retirement, you finally realize like,"Oh, now I have time to take care of my body." But your body hasn't been taken care of for a long time. So I work with patients that are up to 70 years old, and you can still remediate and improve, remediate problems of the mouth and improve your overall health and wellness at any age. And I think that's important for people to know and for people to understand is that you want to live longer, but you also wanna be independent, and you also wanna be agile, and you wanna be able to move around and, and do what you wanna do finally after all these years of working. Absolutely. That's so... I love how you mention that too because that's finally our time to, you know, do all the things that are on the bucket list and, you know But we should always do things on the bucket list, right? Correct.'Cause life is short. Correct. We don't know how long we're here, so people should be concerned about their health and wellness and the whole body health and wellness because that impacts not only just physical, but mental and emotional. Absolutely. Have to kind of maintain yourself along the way to- Right, and it- really have that longevity. Yeah And you've transitioned Sound Mouths into a more virtual model while still offering local in-person options. Yes. How has that allowed you to reach and to support more people? A lot of the times people would come to my office and ask for telehealth, and so I decided a better way to reach more people is to make it available to anyone. And I'm actually licensed in multiple states in the United States, so my collaborative efforts with the Airway Mouth Doctors and Dr. Felix Liao allows me to work not only locally and help the people here, but also across several states. Okay. So I think it, it provides access to people. Our lives are busy. I mean, a kid's-- a child's schedule is pretty hectic to begin with, and I share how important this is because you have to sleep better, feel better, to have more energy to do all the things you wanna do. So I'm finding that telehealth is very successful for nearly all of my patients. It's a little challenging for little ones, so I do refer them out, but the older ones and the adults it's a win-win situation for them as well as me. That's wonderful. It's so accessible. You can help people in states away. Yeah. I think that's amazing that you're able to spread your knowledge and your help that far. Thank you. And you're also building a companion app to help people c- reconnect with their body through breathing, awareness, and simple daily practices. What can people expect from that? Well, it's going to allow them to learn strategies for breathing, sleep, posture, um, and it allows them to work with the app. So a provider could use it with their patients, like I could use it with my patients, or if someone was interested in just improving their overall health and wellness in the area of oral function, breathing, and posture, they're able to get on the app and then do that. Still a work in progress, but we're getting there. Amazing. Yeah. Something cool to look out for in the future. Yeah. And your new website includes educational resources and- Yes quizzes. Where can people go to learn more, take the quiz, or connect with you and Sound Mouths? Okay. So my new website, maryfrancisamc.com. It has a wealth of information for people to learn more about airway, breathing, and sleep. But most importantly, I created a"what color is your airway" quiz, so the people can-- who have concerns or, or not sure if they have concerns, they can test out this free quiz and it sends them the results of what they inputted with some next steps. Wow. How awesome. And it's- Very cool all free. Very nice. Very nice. And as we wrap up, is there anything you'd like to add that I haven't touched on today? Let me think. I think what's most important, especially for parents, is that we can improve facial growth, breathing, and sleep in children at a very young age by learning to do the right things and to address all the things. And working with a myofunctional therapist is a good way to do that. They're kind of the quarterback,'cause we don't do everything. We work with muscles and muscle function and chewing and swallowing. However, we have collaborated-- we collaborate with other providers who are able to also improve other areas. Teamwork makes the dream work, right? Totally. Teamwork does make the dream work. And it's really important to work with providers that have the same integrity and belief in putting, you know, doing what's best for your patient, whatever that may be. Absolutely. Getting on, getting them on their journey to healing. Yep. Overall health and wellness. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you so much, Mary Frances, for joining me on the podcast today and sharing your knowledge, passion, and just inspiring story with us. I wish you the very best in all that comes your way in the future. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you.