The airway is an all important structure in the mouth, responsible for creating the path that air passes through into and out of our bodies. Dr. Punjani performs a thorough exam of the shape and positioning of these structures including the tongue and evaluates for impingement of the airway.
Risks of airway impingement:
The process of respiration especially during sleep is usually one the body does without much effort or thought. Occasionally, structures in the mouth and throat can interfere with this movement and result in sleep disordered breathing, specifically sleep apnea.
Adults experiencing symptoms of sleep disordered breathing experience fatigue, changes in mood and memory, and weakened immune system. Children often have more vague symptoms making it a much more challenging and pressing issue to treat. Symptoms often present as inattention, challenges in school, behavioral changes and poor sleep.
Ask us if your child:
Snores more than half of the time
Tends to breathe through the mouth during the day
Has "heavy" or loud breathing
Seen your child stop breathing during the night
Occasionally wets the bed
Wakes up feeling un-refreshed in the morning
A teacher has commented that they appear sleepy during the day
Wakes up with headaches in the morning
Has stopped growing at a normal rate at any time since birth
Is overweight
Does not seem to listen when spoken to directly
Has difficulty organizing tasks and activities
Easily distracted by extraneous stimuli
Fidgets with hands or feet or squirms in seat
*On the go" or acts as if "driven by a motor"
Interrupts or intrudes on others
Treatment:
Using a combination of expansive orthodontics using appliances and minimally invasive dental treatment, airway impingement can be treated resulting in a significantly improved quality of life and specifically improved growth and development for children.
Although the conventional treatment is wearing a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) mask while sleeping, we evaluate the entire airway for factors that can be modified with appliances and minimally invasive dentistry in order to help you get a good night's sleep without any invasive or cumbersome devices.
Dr. Punjani also treats pediatric patients who have developmentally smaller airways and sleep disordered breathing. With her training from The Breathe Institute, SPEAR, and Airway Health Solutions, she employs a specialized approach to improving the airway called expansive orthodontics.
For more information, please see the following links and videos:
The benefits of well aligned teeth go beyond appearances. Using clear aligners and removable and fixed appliances, we are able to improve airway impingement for adults and children in a technique called expansive orthodontics. By reshaping the palate and creating more space, we help to treat symptoms of sleep disordered breathing and airway impingement.
In her exam, Dr. Punjani identifies risk factors of airway impingement, including jaw shape and positioning, tooth alignment and tongue placement. After the exam, we discuss treatment options using removable and fixed appliances. With the expansive orthodontic protocol, we are able to expand the palate and help guide children's structural growth and development in ways that promote healthy airway patency well into adulthood.
Airway Dentistry
EMA (Mandibular Advancement)
FDA Approved Home Sleep Testing
Myobrace
At Bloom Holistic Dentistry in Atlanta, we are proud to offer the Myobrace system as part of our holistic approach to dentalcare. Myobrace is a preventive orthodontic treatment that focuses on correcting the underlying causes of crooked teeth and improper jaw development, rather than simply treating the symptoms.
