What does the dentist and my child’s sleep have to do with each other?

Children and sleep – one of life’s greatest enigmas. As a parent (and owner of Limitless Dental), Dr Martin understands the need for a good night’s rest. As a dental practitioner, he’s very passionate about helping kids whose oral posture and jaw development may be impacting their sleep and growth. 

What do you mean by oral posture?

Proper oral posture simply means that at rest, your tongue is pressing up against the roof of your mouth (or palate), your teeth are lightly touching, your lips are sealed and you’re breathing through your nose. When this is all in sync, your face and jaw are all in equilibrium. This equilibrium in a young, growing child helps their facial structure and jaw develop correctly. 

However, there may be a number of things that prevent a child (and even adults) from maintaining proper oral posture:

• Frequent runny and/or blocked nose
• Recurrent allergic rhinitis
• Enlarged adenoids or tonsils
• Deviated septum

These factors may make it difficult to breathe through their nose, so they compensate by breathing through their mouth. It may quickly become a habit.

So what does incorrect oral posture and my child’s sleep have to do with each other?

When your child’s nose is constantly blocked (or their airways are physically compromised by adenoids etc), they breathe through their mouth while asleep and their tongue spends a lot of time away from the palate. Their jaw hangs open and they might crane their neck to try and take in some more air. They may even snore or have long pauses between breaths. This is called sleep-disordered breathing.

During a child’s formative years, chronic mouth breathing results in suboptimal growth of their facial structure. When the tongue is not in its correct position (up against the palate), the lack of scaffolding for the face leads to the development of narrow nasal passages and retrusive (or backward) jaws, further obstructing a child’s airway passage. The child’s body may then spend most of the night looking for oxygen, instead of repairing and growing i.e. they struggle to enter and remain in deep sleep. The lack of restorative sleep (both quality and quantity) for a growing child may manifest in cognitive, physical and behavioral issues.

Sleep-disordered breathing in children is a critical (but treatable) issue that is more common than previously thought. A recent study in Australia found that 7.3% of children (aged 4-18) are at risk of sleep-disordered breathing – and many go undiagnosed for years. 

Some signs include:

• Difficulty falling or staying asleep
• Snoring, gasping or breathing pauses
• Bed wetting
• Dried mouth/lips
• Unusual disturbances during sleep e.g. night terrors
• Dark circles around eyes
• Frequent ear/sinus infections
• Crowded or crooked teeth 
• Fatigue during the day and/or poor concentration

Well, my child does breathe through their mouth, but they seem to sleep alright…what’s the issue?

While mouth breathing doesn’t necessarily mean your child won’t sleep, they may not be getting into the deeper stage of sleep, where all the important things happen. There are varying opinions regarding treatment of mouth breathing, but the fact remains that it’s not part of the correct physiological function of how we breathe. 

Let us help.

How can Limitless Dental help?

As the largest proportion of a child’s growth and development occur during the earliest years of their life, any impact to it may have a lifetime of consequences. At Limitless Dental, our dentists are geared towards evaluating and intervening against any airway issues. This may include managing airway obstructions through an ENT specialist referral, treating under-developed jaws with an expansion appliance and addressing other causes of mouth breathing. 

We have a network of professionals who we also work closely with to guide your child’s jaw into proper development – this is key to helping them breathe and sleep better.

Give us a call on 9569 8091 for a free initial consult if you think your child’s sleep may be impacted by how they breathe.