Your Child's Sleep is Worth It. Period.

The Symptoms of Sleep Disordered Breathing

The symptoms associated with sleep disordered breathing can vary from one child to the next. However, even mild sleep disordered breathing - mouth breathing, crowded teeth, and snoring - can point to serious underlying health issues and the need for treatment.

• Pediatric sleep disorders impact a child’s behavioral, cognitive, and physical development, with long-term consequences (Bonuck, Parikh, & Bassila, 2006; Montgomery & Dunne, 2007).
• Children with sleep disordered breathing are 40 to 100 percent more likely to exhibit behavioral and emotional problems, including hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, social issues with peers, and conduct problems, including aggressiveness (Bonuck, 2012).
• Children with crossbite (misaligned upper and lower teeth) are 3.3 times more likely to suffer from sleep disordered breathing, while children with convex facial profiles (i.e. receding chins) are 2.6 times more likely (Finland Study 2013, published in European Journal of Pediatrics).

The research is clear – sleep disordered breathing is the underlying condition that often gives rise to many childhood health issues.

Children with wide, forward dental arches who breathe through their nose sleep better. Children who sleep better perform better in school, behave better, and experience fewer health issues.

Unfortunately, childhood sleep disorders are becoming more prevalent, and far too many parents and healthcare providers are unaware of the dire consequences.

How are bed-wetting and your child’s dental development connected?

Bed-wetting can be caused by a compromised airway, which can lead to sleep disordered breathing. Over just the past 20 years, compelling research from around the world has forged important links between sleep disordered breathing and certain childhood health issues that plague as many as 9 out of 10 children.

What are the side effects of a compromised airway?

The central issue for many children suffering from the effects of sleep disordered breathing is a compromised airway. When a child’s airway is narrow, underdeveloped, or constricted in any way, the child will struggle to get enough oxygen at night and may resort to mouth breathing. Bringing the upper and lower jaws forward while making them wider can help open up the airway of a growing child.

Why is mouth breathing a problem?

Mouth breathing is different from nasal breathing and often leads to further compromises in the airway. Mouth breathing is often cited as a contributing factor in a compromised airway, as well as in cases where patients require orthodontic treatment. Mouth breathing can also prevent the proper function of the tongue and other orofacial muscles which children need to speak, swallow, chew, and function. Mouth breathing can also cause the delicate tissues of the tonsils and adenoids to swell and become enlarged, which can further restrict the airway and thus perpetuate the cycle of mouth breathing.

“We believe elimination of oral breathing, i.e., restoration of nasal breathing during wake and sleep, may be the only valid “finish line” in pediatric sleep disordered breathing.” C. Guilleminault, S. Sullivan, 2014 – Stanford University

The Dental Connection

Many young children with sleep disordered breathing have dental arches that are underdeveloped, narrow, and positioned too far back. A normal human profile should have the lips and chin positioned well in front of the eyes with a strong jawline. Unfortunately, in most cases, such growth and development doesn’t happen on its own.

In our modern world of limited breastfeeding and soft, processed foods, far too many of our children are simply not developing fully in their lower facial areas. If allowed to persist during their formative early years, this condition prevents proper growth and development of a child’s airway.

Early Treatment is Critical

If these abnormal conditions are left untreated in children, there is little that can be done to correct them by the time adulthood is reached.

All too often when teeth become crowded, extractions are prescribed, followed by years of braces. Many of these children will grow into adults with sleep disordered breathing. They may require CPAP machines to obtain the oxygen they need at night - all because their airways were never allowed to fully develop.

By expanding the entire anatomy of the upper and lower jaws, the airway can open and develop to its full potential. If treatment and intervention occurs during a child’s critical growth years, many of the symptoms associated with sleep disordered breathing greatly diminish or simply disappear.

Does your child exhibit any of the symptoms linked to sleep disordered breathing?

Symptoms of sleep disordered breathing include:

• ADD/ADHD
• Bed-wetting
• Chronic allergies
• Difficulty in school
• Mouth breathing
• Snoring
• Restless sleep
• Stunted growth
• Nightmares
• Crowded and/or crooked teeth
• Aggressive behavior
• Overbite
• Underdeveloped lower jaw
• Daytime drowsiness

At Airway Dynamics, we utilize a series of systems like Vivos Life™, Five Star Habit Appliances, and Myobrace fixed and removable appliances to help create an all-natural, non-pharmaceutical, and non-surgical treatment option.

Help strengthen their tongue

Our customized treatment varies for each child, but the goal is training your child’s tongue to have the strength it’s intended to have. For example, the Vivos System is a proprietary, non-invasive, non-surgical treatment protocol provided by a multidisciplinary team of highly-trained healthcare professionals.

Help improve sleep

Statistics show over 40 million children are affected by sleep disorders and are suffering from one or more sleep-related breathing symptoms. Our appliances can help open your child’s airway so they breathe more easily while sleeping.

Don’t wait. Early treatment can help.

When children are young, their bodies are able to adjust and mold easily, particularly in regards to mouth and bone structure. Crowded teeth may force the tongue forward against their teeth, narrowing their dental arch and constricting the airway.

We are proud to provide treatment options that include the Vivos Life treatment in Dallas, Texas, and the surrounding areas of Rockwall, Dallas, Lakewood, Rowlett, Richardson, Sachse, Wylie, Plano, Mesquite, and Highland Park, Texas.

We invite you to call us at (214) 329-0675 for more information and schedule your child’s consultation with Dr. Mark Musso.

Is your child a candidate for our Sleep Solutions?

There are many important factors which affect your child’s health, but aren’t observable during a visit to the Airway Dynamics office. You may not have known that these signs were connected to your child’s teeth or health. By looking for and tracking these behaviors and factors, you can help us paint a complete picture of your child’s overall health. Find our sleep disordered breathing checklist for children here.

You don’t have to spend a lot of time with this assessment tool; just observe their behavior at different times during the day. You want to see their most natural behaviors, so a little parental sneakiness might be warranted. Check off the behaviors you observe!

Conventional Treatment Options

Before now, treatment options have been limited and ineffective. This is mainly because these treatments have addressed symptoms rather than the potential root cause.

Prescription drugs, surgery, clinical therapy, academic tutors, sleep aids, and years in metal braces have been the most commonly prescribed “solutions.” Yet none of these conventional treatments can promote or develop a child’s airway and help them get the oxygen and sleep they need to thrive.

A Better Way to Help Your Child

Contact Airway Dynamics today at (214) 329-0675 for more information about sleep solutions and to schedule an appointment for your child with one of our caring dentists.