COM Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the COM exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
📋 COM Exam Format at a Glance
📚 COM Topics to Study (75)
✍️ Sample COM Questions & Answers
1. If a COM disagrees with a referring physician's recommendation that may not be in the patient's best interest, the ethical approach is to:
Ethical practice requires advocating for the patient through direct professional communication and careful documentation.
2. A COM performing a structural assessment observes an excessively high and narrow palatal vault. This morphology is most strongly associated with:
Chronic mouth breathing with a low tongue rest posture removes the tongue's lateral pressure from the palate, allowing the cheek muscles to constrict it, resulting in a high, narrow arch.
3. Which of the following is a common approach to treatment planning for patients with myofunctional disorders?
Myofunctional disorders often stem from improper muscle function and oral habits, which can also impact dental alignment. Therefore, treatment typically involves a combination of targeted myofunctional exercises to retrain muscles, behavioral changes to eliminate harmful habits (like tongue thrust), and often orthodontic interventions to correct any resulting dental or jaw malalignment. This integrated approach addresses both the functional and structural aspects for comprehensive improvement.
4. After removing contaminated gloves, what is the next required step before touching clean surfaces?
Hand hygiene must be performed immediately after removing gloves because gloves can have microscopic defects and contamination can occur during removal.
5. A patient has completed orofacial myofunctional therapy. What is the recommended minimum observation period before formal discharge to confirm habit maintenance?
A 3–6 month follow-up monitoring period confirms that corrected neuromuscular patterns have stabilized into automatic habits before formal discharge.
6. What does the term 'mandibular rest position' refer to in orofacial myology assessment?
Mandibular rest position is defined as the relaxed, postural position of the jaw when the patient is upright and relaxed, typically showing 2–4 mm of freeway space.