You’ve heard of sleep disorders like snoring and sleep apnea, and you’ve probably heard they’re related to genetics and weight. In the past, solutions have ranged from breathing strips to CPAP machines. But what if that isn’t the solution? What if it lies in dentistry?
Recent studies have shown that a person’s jaw shape, bad bite, and crooked teeth can have an effect on their ability to breathe correctly. That can affect how they sleep, how they speak, and their overall health.
Beavers & Broomfield Family Dentistry offers airway dentistry to patients, a practice that combines dental procedures with myofunctional therapy to improve airflow by enhancing facial structure and oral health. Let’s explore how an airway-focused dentist can benefit you.
What Is Airway Dentistry?
Airway Dentistry is a relatively new but rapidly growing field that focuses on the structure of the mouth and jaws and how they impact breathing. Underdevelopment of the jaws, malocclusions (bad bites), crooked teeth, and a palate that’s too deep or too narrow can all affect how you breathe, which can affect your dental airway health and overall health.
Do you get enough air when breathing through your nose? If not, is it because your palate is too narrow? Has years of thumbsucking misshapen the palate, causing it to push into the nasal cavities and narrow your nasal passages? Are jaw development and breathing really related?
The idea behind airway dentistry is simple: Treatments for snoring or sleep apnea in the past have concentrated on correcting the symptoms. Airway dentistry concentrates on correcting the CAUSES for those sleep disorders.
Common Signs of Airway Issues
Signs of airway problems extend beyond simply being unable to breathe correctly. Those breathing problems can cause other issues, such as bruxism (teeth grinding) or jaw pain. This disordered breathing can lead to many other health issues.
Here are some signs you may have sleep-disordered breathing problems:
- Mouth breathing
- Bruxism
- Excessive tooth wear
- Breaks, cracks, or chips in the teeth
- Headaches
- Fuzzy thinking (brain fog)
- Fatigue
- Interrupted sleep
- Concentration problems
- Dry mouth, especially in the morning
- Face or jaw pain
- Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ or TMD)
- Neck pain
- Head-forward posture
- Waking up feeling like you can’t breathe
Health Problems From Airway Issues
The symptoms may seem mild or not worth checking, but they can lead to more serious health issues. Your ability to breathe determines how well you oxygenate your blood, which supports your other organs. A lack of oxygen, even in a small amount, can damage your health.
Left untreated, breathing obstructions can cause:
- Chronic fatigue
- Chronic pain
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Anxiety
- Memory issues
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
- Depression
- Sinus infections, especially recurring ones
- Respiratory infections
- Obesity
- Diabetes
- Hyperthyroidism
- Cardiovascular disease
Treating Airway Obstructions With Myofunctional Therapy
Myofunctional therapy, combined with dentistry tools and techniques, is part of the airway dentistry practice that’s now being used to treat the causes of breathing disorders and improve patients’ health.
What is myofunctional therapy, and how will a myofunctional therapist near me help my dental airway health?
Myofunctional therapy uses special exercises to treat orofacial myofunctional disorders, or OMDs. Essentially, this means muscles in your face and mouth don’t move the way they’re supposed to, so these exercises retrain them to work correctly.
What causes your facial muscles to move incorrectly? It can be caused by blocked nasal passages, such as from a deviated septum, swollen membranes from sinus irritation (allergies, etc.), or from bones that intrude into the sinus cavity. This can be caused by habits such as thumbsucking beyond age 3, where the pressure of the thumb pushes the bone into the sinus cavity.
OMDs can also be caused by chewing habits beyond age three or tongue ties, both of which can cause tongue thrust. This habit can cause the teeth to shift forward, leading to an open bite. It can make speech more difficult and can cause the tongue to be displaced at rest.
Myofunctional therapy retrains the muscles in the face and around the mouth to reposition the tongue, seal the lips, and breathe normally through the nose.
Dental Appliances in Airway Dentistry
Myofunctional therapy is one part of airway dentistry. It also involves repairing dental problems to improve breathing. This can include dental appliances that help the jaws grow and develop properly.
A palate expander can open the nasal cavity and allow better air flow through your sinuses. It also allows more and better room for the tongue to rest.
What if the tongue rests against the teeth instead of against the palate? A tongue crib or similar device can retrain the tongue to rest in the proper position. This, along with myofunctional therapy exercises, can keep the tongue from obstructing airflow during sleep.
Will you or your child need airway dental appliances to improve breathing? That is something an airway dentist can determine with a thorough exam and evaluation. It’s something we provide to those who need airway dentistry in Fayetteville, AR.
How Will I Know If Airway Dentistry Works?
You may not notice changes at first, but airway dentistry can improve many aspects of your health over time. It will take dedication to complete the prescribed exercises, but you should notice changes eventually.
One of the first things you may notice is that you wake up feeling rested instead of run down. Your muscles will feel less stiff, particularly in your face, head, neck, and shoulders. You may notice your stress and anxiety have lessened. You may find you have fewer headaches and less jaw popping. You may even find you have fewer food cravings and lose weight.
All of these are signs that airway dentistry is working to improve your breathing and oral health, and thereby your overall health.
Airway Dentist in Fayetteville, AR
Are you ready to wake feeling refreshed and energetic? Do you feel it’s time to improve your blood pressure, stress levels, and muscle pain? Airway dentistry may be right for you.
Schedule an appointment with Beavers & Broomfield Family Dentistry if you are in the Fayetteville, AR, area. We will evaluate you and your health and let you know how airway dentistry can help you!
