What's the history?

Based on a wide variety of credible, peer-reviewed research, we understand that the root cause of many chronic inflammatory symptoms is associated with a compromised airway, which can cause disturbances to breathing both during the day and at night while a patient is sleeping. While the presentation of these symptoms may be different in adults vs. children, our philosophical basis of therapy is similar in that we employ minimally invasive medical & dental devices, myofunctional exercises, and lifestyle changes to address the root cause. By treating this root cause, we can eliminate the need for pharmaceutical intervention (ie. prescription medications) that is limited in benefit to masking symptoms of this inflammation without ever "healing" the true etiology. 

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In a 2016 study of over 500 pediatric subjects published in the Journal of the American Orthodontic Society, researchers used this same therapeutic modality and demonstrated almost complete resolution (>90%) of symptoms including morning headaches, snoring, labored breathing. Additional symptoms that demonstrated improvement by 74-90% included teeth grinding, night sweats, daytime sleepiness and irritability, restless sleep, bedwetting, and throat infections. 

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What is sleep-disordered breathing? What is its relation to a compromise in airway health?

 

Sleep-disordered breathing is an umbrella term for several chronic conditions in which partial or complete cessation of breathing occurs many times throughout the night, resulting in daytime sleepiness or fatigue that interferes with a person's ability to function and reduces quality of life. SDB causes systemic inflammation and can manifest itself in a variety of symptoms that can be easily overlooked, misdiagnosed, and most unfortunately, left untreated.

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Awareness related to sleep-disordered breathing in both adults and children has increased drastically over the past two decades. Traditionally seen in the field of sleep medicine, most patients diagnosed with "sleep issues" fit the stereotype of an older person, oftentimes overweight, who snores loudly. However, in more recent years, physicians, dentists, and research scientists have tested and proven that sleep and airway disturbances occur much more commonly, and the presentation of associated symptoms looks very different based on the patient type.

 

For example in a child, audible breathing at nighttime is indicative of an airway issue that would disturb sleep; if a child is actually snoring, then he or she has a further progression of the disorder, or is presenting with more severe symptoms. Additionally, "young fit females" has become a classification for high risk patients who's symptoms are not only different to identify from what is typically associated with this disorder, but oftentimes these patients get misdiagnosed or their symptoms are "excused away" based on lifestyle or other factors (more on this later).