2019 – The Year of Airway Health

You may find that your daughter has never slept well.  You may hear her at night while she either grinds her teeth or snores. She may have sleep-disordered breathing. Both teeth grinding and snoring are NOT normal and should not occur in either children or adults.  Both grinding and snoring are symptoms of a bigger problem, likely an airway issue. Let me say loud and clear, NO CHILD SHOULD EVER SNORE!  If you hear this or have a client that identifies that their child snores at night, I would strongly advise them to have an airway assessment completed by a skilled healthcare provider.  Dental providers are the perfect fit to offer this valuable screening and can easily be completed during a routine care appointment.   

When an individual is either grinding teeth or snoring during sleep, they trigger the sympathetic nervous system state, with a reduction in parasympathetic tone (fight or flight).  Some studies suggest that children with habitual snoring could be associated with possible increases in cardiovascular risk in adulthood. Snoring triggers stress hormones and ultimately limits a child’s ability to acquire the required amount of deep sleep that is needed for growth and repair in a growing individual.  Sadly, many children have been misdiagnosed with ADHD and placed on unnecessary medications, when all they really need is simply a good night’s sleep.   

As parents and healthcare providers, we need to be the voice for growing children and adults.  We can work together to collectively provide whole and overall health and wellness in dentistry.  Together we can improve the lives of so many more individuals and potentially prevent conditions like cardiovascular disease and OSA in many individuals.  It’s time to step up and standardize a higher level of care for all. I would strongly encourage any dental provider that is currently not including an airway assessment as part of their regular practice to begin today.  By doing so, you just may change and save a life for the better. You never know who may be suffering in silence.  

Educating your team in airway health and orofacial myofunctional therapy (OMT) is a great place to start to add in the missing pieces of the puzzle and begin to connect more of the dots.  Some great resources include following Dr. Steven Lin, author of the Dental Diet. Reading the books Jaws: The story of the Hidden Epidemic and GASP, Airway Health. Attending a course on myofunctional therapy.  There are many great clinicians offering courses through Canada and the US on this topic. Having a better understanding for identifying and referring clients that have a tongue tie for a release and OMT.  

We generally see our clients more often than a general MD does and have the power to change the lives of so many we see.  Together let’s literally change the face of dentistry and make a difference in our communities while growing healthy faces and healthy bodies. 

About the Author

Dezarae Aldridge-Earl, RDH and Airway Health Advocate. CEO & Independent Dental Hygiene practice owner of, ‘Dental Hygiene with Dezarae’.