Mouth breathing or nose breathing?

I read an article in this month’s Dental Town that I found to be very interesting. It discussed mouth breathing in children and its implications. In normal breathing, the tongue rests against the roof of the mouth. In mouth breathers, however, the tongue is forward and lower leading to abnormal palatal (roof of mouth) development and less oxygen uptake and often snoring.

Nasal breathing allows for less air exhaled leading to more lung pressure and better oxygen absorption by the bloodstream. In mouth breathers, a signal to the brain says air is being lost leading to slower breathing and blood vessel constriction, thereby causing higher blood pressure and stress. Mouth breathing also bypasses the normal filtering system of the nasal passages allowing unwanted particles into the lungs.

Kids who breathe orally are often perceived to lack IQ or have poor social skills. They often have a forward, slumped head position to open the airway and suffer from bad breath and increased tooth decay due to dry mouth.

So if your child is developing mouth breathing, see your friendly ENT as soon as possible to correct this problem.