Airway Treatment
Early Detection and
Early Treatment are Key
Airway treatment addresses the compensations for a hampered airway. If your child cannot easily breathe through the nose both day and night, hold his/her lips together as a habit, rest the tongue on the palate when not talking or eating, or swallow without the aid of facial muscles, then we know trouble will follow.
The sooner you can address the compensations, the more you can prevent the consequences (Craniofacial Dystrophy). If there have been changes to the face, then these have to be corrected using dentofacial orthopedic techniques, preferably before growth is complete. And finally, we make sure the proper habits for posture, breathing, and tongue placement are in place for optimal health.
When your child’s airway is compromised, oxygen does not flow freely to the brain resulting in interrupted sleep cycles preventing your child from having a full night’s sleep. This consistent sleep deprivation has a negative impact on proper brain function and often leads to severe medical complications.
The earlier we identify and address SDB the better, because all necessary changes to facial bone development are corrected much more easily when the child is 5 to 7 years old rather than in later years.
Furthermore, an abnormal breathing pattern intercepted early allows us to stop the process of abnormal development that can lead to additional problems.
The goal of the new early orthodontic treatment model has little to do with the teeth. It has everything to do with helping the jaws grow fully and allowing airway spaces open up to full size.
What does such intervention accomplish? It not only opens the airway that these structures otherwise scrunch into too narrow a space in the neck, but also brings the whole face into proper proportion.
Just as in building a house, you lay the foundation and do the carpentry and thereafter you do the interior decoration. In Airway Treatment, this means we first focus on laying the foundation for facial growth and airway development in the young child, and then we arrange the teeth for decoration.
When a house is well designed with proper room sizes and layout, placing the decor is simpler and the room spaces function well. If the house is built with odd-shaped rooms and narrow hallways, getting the furniture in place within the rooms becomes a problem.
Similarly, helping the jaws to grow to their full genetic potential makes the arrangement of the teeth far easier, especially since much of the eruption can happen naturally.
Proper oxygenation through correct breathing, a healthy airway, and a full night’s sleep in turn lead to an improved immune and hormonal system, better school and sports performance, and an overall healthier and happier child.
