Signs Your Child May Have a Sleep Related Breathing Disorder

Have you noticed physical changes in your child's breathing? Perhaps they are breathing through their mouth often or their breathing is labored and loud. It’s hard to know what to do in these situations and signs and symptoms of sleep related breathing disorders, also known as SRBD, often go unaddressed in children. Kids may even be experiencing negative behavior challenges due to SRBD.
How do we know what to look for? Ask your dentist! The House of Delegates adopted an official policy statement at The American Dental Association in 2017 adopted an official policy that states “Dentists are encouraged to screen patients for SRBD as part of a comprehensive medical and dental history.”
What Do I Look For?
Sleep apnea – You may observe your child stops breathing or gasps taking in a breath during sleep. Pediatric sleep apnea is defined by The Mayo Clinic as “a sleep disorder in which your child’s breathing is partially or completely blocked repeatedly during sleep. The condition is due to narrowing or blockage of the upper airway during sleep.”
Crowded teeth – This is when the teeth don’t quite grow in properly during childhood development. The teeth may be bunched together or growing in irregular directions. Crowded and crooked teeth are signs of jaw underdevelopment. Jaw underdevelopment can affect the upper airway structures leading to Sleep Related Breathing Disorders.
Snoring – We have probably all heard snoring and probably experienced a few nights of snoring ourselves. Snoring is a sign your child’s breathing may be obstructing. Snoring becomes an issue when it is recurrent. It’s good to talk to a dentist about snoring no matter what age a patient is.
Teeth grinding – Grinding their teeth could be a sign that your child is struggling to breathe. As we move our jaw back and forth, we open our airway allowing us to get more air in. However, this is not a healthy way to breathe and is damaging to our teeth!
Inability to focus – A dentist’s office isn’t always the first place parents consider for help with an issue like a lack of focus in a child. Integrative Biological Dentists are conditioned to look at the broad spectrum of potential causes of issues with children and many parents are happy to discover that they can achieve better focus for their children while working towards a healthy smile.

People are often surprised to find that these issues can be related to sleep related breathing disorders:
- ADD/ADHD
- Academic Challenges
- Arrested Growth
- Underdeveloped Jaw
- Bedwetting
- Chronic Allergies
- Aggressive Behavior
- Depression
- Mouth Breathing
- Nightmares
- Inability to Focus
How Can My Dentist Help?
If you suspect your child has SRBD, your dentist who is knowledgeable in this area can help. Identification is the first step. A biological dentist can recognize the oral and facial structural signs of SRBD.
While children are still growing, they present us with a unique window of opportunity where we are able to simply guide their oral growth out of the root causes of jaw underdevelopment that leads to the signs and symptoms of SRBD.
Dr. Carla Yamashiro is a biological dentist practicing holistic dentistry at Ecologic Dentistry in Bonney Lake. To request an appointment or make an inquiry, please call 253.863.7005 or visit us at ecologicdentistry.com.
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