What is Airway Dentistry? As Dentists, We Love to Talk about All things Airway.

Blog: What is Airway Dentistry?

If you’ve visited Lake Park Dental or Untethered Tongue Tie Center, it doesn’t take long to hear us talk about the airway. It’s a passion of ours, and it can sometimes take a patient by surprise to hear a dentist talking about their sleep.

I mean, isn’t she just supposed to clean my teeth?! Sure, we do that. But we also think about your quality of life as the result of your ability to have a healthy body.

Throughout our lives, small behaviors and actions (think exclusive bottle feeding, eating soft foods only like pouches and pureed everything) can impact how our face grows and how we use important muscles like our tongue.

Modern day diets and technology have made it really easy for us to allow babies to more easily get their nutrition. But, this can sometimes come at a cost. Without flexing our facial muscles during peak growth and development, our facial structure and muscles can grow in ways that don’t do us any favors. Think crowded teeth, underdeveloped jaws, and crooked/misaligned teeth. This is where airway dentistry comes in. Airway dentistry is a combination of dentistry and orthodontics focused on orofacial development. It not only treats, but also diagnoses, issues that could get in the way of your airway performing at its best. Airway dentistry often begins at an early age while we can still impact positive growth, and typically includes some common interventions:

  • Orthodontics
  • Palatal expanders
  • Myofunctional therapy and breath training

Airway dentistry is not a one-and-done office visit. It is a commitment to proactively addressing issues before they come to being. It’s best to address issues as early as possible to take advantage of growth but we intervene when we know there’s a problem…. From infancy to late adulthood. Airway dentistry allows you to decrease risk of dental crowding, dental caries (cavities), periodontal disease, avoid CPAP, and improve your overall systemic health!

Questions? Give us a call or come see us at Untethered Tongue Tie Center. We love to help little jaws grow, AND help those that ended up with small mouths AFTER growth.

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