Why your child may have caries and other health issues
Several things go wrong with mouth breathing causing caries and other dental issues. The low carbon dioxide levels associated with mouth breathing lead to over breathing or hyperventilation.
With less oxygen being delivered to the brain, muscles and all the cells of the body, the body functions less than optimally.
Sleep is often disturbed and of poor quality, leaving the mouth breather tired in the morning and feeling fatigued mid-afternoon.
Leading to increased caries and health issues!
As the mouth dries out, the pH of saliva drops, leading to increased caries.
This dryness and lack of air filtration in mouth breathing causes enlarged and inflamed tonsils and adenoids and increased risk of upper respiratory tract infections.
Lower levels of carbon dioxide cause smooth muscle spasms associated with gastric reflux, asthma and bed wetting.
Smooth muscle is found throughout the body – in the respiratory system, digestive system and circulatory system.
The long face syndrome
With mouth breathing, the tongue is down and forward allowing the buccinator muscles to push unopposed, causing the upper arch to collapse.
Children who mouth breathe have an underdeveloped, narrow maxilla with a high vaulted palate.
They develop a retrognathic mandible and generally have a long face. This is known as long face syndrome.
Continue reading the entire article here.
