About Us

Mary Billings, a speech language pathologist, and Dianah Davidson, a dental hygienist began their journey together in 2007. Shortly before entering her certification program, Dianah contacted Mary's private practice for more information. That conversation eventually turned to the topic of collaboration. After completing her training, Mary and Dianah immediately began a collaborating in therapeutic practice, researching historical therapeutic methods and learning how to combine the perspectives of the dental and therapeutic world. They quickly recognized their relationship as unique and not one widely embraced seen in the field at that time.

Within a very short time Mary and Dianah gained local and national attention for their interdisciplinary approach, especially from leadership within the IAOM. Shortly, thereafter in 2008 Mary, as a then-member was appointed to Chair the IAOM’s first Mentoring Committee and develop a team to assist other people new to the field. In short order she recruited Dianah to assist her in building a skilled and knowledgeable team for this committee. As the years progressed, the Mentoring Committee grew from 4 to 15 members from the disciplines of speech pathology and dental hygiene. 

In 2012, after years of mentoring and opening Mary’s clinic to others for intern opportunities, members began to lobby Mary and Dianah to offer their own “introductory course” for people interested in certification. “Make the Connection” was subsequently launched in 2013. Mary and Dianah’s mission to facilitate a deeper understanding of orofacial myofunctional disorders remains today. As they have worked to effectively bridge the gap between the fields of speech pathology and dentistry and facilitated the development of new treatment options within the field, demand for their courses has grown both nationally and internationally.

With the advent of that growth, Mary and Dianah quickly recognized that in order to ensure that course attendees received dedicated 1:1 attention, Mary and Dianah they would need another team member. They quickly recruited Patricia Fisher, MA,CCC-SLP to teach alongside of them. Patricia had vast experience in the field of speech pathology and built a substantial private practice in Ohio that specializes in orofacial myofunctional disorders. Their journey together has afforded their team the opportunity to network with specialists in breathing, osteopathy, sensory-motor deficits, dentistry and medical specialists further expanding their knowledge base.

The Make the Connection team has proudly taught 1000’s of professionals over the years with many of those attendees submitting testimonials claiming “Make the Connection” was a turning point in their careers

Mary Billings, MS,CCC-SLP

Speech-Language Pathologist

Dianah Davidson, BS-RDH, COM®

 Registered Dental Hygienist &

Certified Orofacial Myologist