The Domino Effect of Sleep, Facial Development, And Childhood Behavioral Problems

Sadly, most children have growth problems in their jaws, resulting in small jaws and crooked teeth. The child pictured above has crowded teeth and sleeps with his mouth open. It may surprise you to find out that the open mouth is causing the crowded teeth. It is also causing exhaustion and potential behavioral problems. Traditionally, many dentists and parents wait until the child is in their teens or preteens to initiate orthodontic treatment. A few years after the teeth are moved into place, the wisdom teeth usually get removed. Most of us fail to realize that the lack of room for wisdom teeth signifies that the jaws are still too small, even though the teeth appear straight. 

When normal growth occurs, the jaws will be set in the skull in a way that harmonizes with the rest of the face, including the nasal cavity and throat. Because of these relationships, breathing can be compromised when the jaws are not developing correctly. My post entitled, "DON'T IGNORE THE SNORE (ESPECIALLY IN CHILDREN!)" sheds more light on this phenomenon.

The problems resulting from crooked teeth and underdeveloped jaws continue into adulthood, of course. In addition, when we can't breathe properly, many health issues like high blood pressure, stroke, heart failure, irregular heartbeat and heart attack, diabetes, depression, and worsening of ADHD arise. However, since these conditions have multiple causal factors, poor breathing is seldom suspected. I get more in-depth on the subject in my post called, "HOW YOUR DENTIST CAN HELP YOU LOOK BETTER, SLEEP BETTER AND BE HEALTHIER."

But I want to focus on childhood facial development today. Karen Bonuck did a study in 2012 looking exclusively at childhood behavioral problems with what she called "sleep disordered breathing." It turns out that by age seven, the children with breathing problems were 50% more likely to demonstrate behavioral problems like moodiness, anxiety, anger, social withdrawal, temper tantrums, depression, ADHD, and aggressiveness, to name a few. In the two-and-a-half-minute video below, she explains her findings.

Many children suffer from poor facial development, and figuring out the causes can involve many specialties. One of the most essential specialties is pediatric dentistry. Parents should seek pediatric dentists aware of the connection between crooked teeth, breathing, and subsequent behavioral problems. They usually advertise as airway dentists, but not always, so ask.

When caught in childhood, dentists can take advantage of natural growth to fully correct delayed or altered facial development. The early interventions can be as simple as an appliance worn chiefly at night, special exercises for the mouth, cheeks, tongue, and lips, clear orthodontic aligners, and keeping the nasal passages clear. Again, you can find out more by reading this post.

I want to end by sharing this powerful video.

 It is called "Finding Conner Deegan." In the video, Conner's mother describes how allergies led to poor sleep and poor facial development, which created his behavioral issues. She rightfully recognized that these seemingly unrelated problems led to the domino effect. In the first year of treatment, she describes how Conner had the attachment of his tongue loosened by a dentist, was put on allergy medications, had his tonsils and adenoids removed, and had his dental arch expanded. The result was a happy, normal child. She points out that ADD/ADHD and sleep disordered breathing are virtually indistinguishable from one another. Her final recommendation is that every child should have a sleep screening. I could not agree more. 

At my offices, we have teams of pediatric dentists, orthodontists, surgeons, orofacial myofunctional therapists, and lactation specialists to detect and treat problems early. When needed, we refer to ENT, allergists, speech pathologists, and more. If more people were aware of the domino effect just described, our children would not needlessly suffer so much. Please share this post or just the video so more people are aware of this growing problem. My thanks to those who do.