Summary of Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders (SRBD)

Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders often result from factors like low tongue posture and soft diets, leading to a smaller mouth, retrognathic maxilla, and malocclusion. Habitual tongue suction helps develop a wide arch, nasal sinuses, and forward maxillary growth.

Historically, chewing for about 1.5 hours daily strengthened alveolar ridges to accommodate all 32 teeth. Today, soft processed foods and pouch feeding contribute to underdeveloped alveolar ridges, lingually inclined teeth, and disrupted oral balance.

Factors such as tongue ties, bottle or pouch feeding, thumb sucking, and pacifiers may cause narrow arches, deviated septum, and congestion. Habitual mouth breathing often leads to chronic nasal congestion, enlarged adenoids/tonsils, dry mouth, and cavities, affecting craniofacial growth and airway function.

Low tongue posture in mouth breathers can cause a longer face, increased gonial angle, and airway narrowing, reducing oxygen to the brain and causing fragmented sleep. Symptoms in children include sweating, bedwetting, sleep apnea, night terrors, snoring, and restless sleep.

Screening and treatment focus on prevention with personalized interventions and lifestyle changes. Encouraging nasal breathing can lower the risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes later in life.

Treatments include Oral Appliance Therapy (OAT) and adjunct therapies like Myofunctional Therapy, Frenuloplasty, orthodontic expansion, and the Buteyko Breathing Method.

Our noses filter, warm, humidify air, and produce nitric oxide essential for breathing health. For deeper insights, see our White Papers and explore Recommended Books & Products supporting nasal breathing during the day and sleep.