Airway Centered Dentistry
What is “Airway centered dentistry”? Airway centered dentistry is looking at teeth and the oral system holistically and understanding how the position of teeth and jaw could affect airway, breathing, and sleep. If teeth and the oral system can affect airway, breathing, and sleep, it could potentially impact every health system in one’s body.
The biggest impact of airway health is sleep. If inadequate 3D oral volume can result in poor airway (think sleep apnea), and that in turn can result in poor sleep. One can imagine the negative cascading consequences to health of having a poor airway.
Common chronic symptoms and ailments such as sinus infections, TMJD, headaches, acid reflux, and even constipation could be linked to poor airway anatomy. Other more serious chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, anxiety and depression, all have strong breathing and sleep ties.
What is interesting also, is poor airway can affect oral health (think night-time grinding to get more air, clenching and breaking teeth). In fact, a well trained dentist can have a good idea of whether or not a person could have sleep disordered breathing if it’s due to anatomic volume deficiency.
If you are interested in reading more, I would highly recommend Dr. Steven Park’s “Sleep Interrupted” and Dr. Felix Liao’s “6 Foot Tiger 3 Foot Cage”. Both authors have great perspectives of the subject from an ENT specialist and an airway-centered dentist’s point of view. This video will walk you through why we are so passionate about treating kids early
Please feel free to contact us to learn more about how we can help you airway or sleep related problems, or request an appointment online.
FAQs
What is airway-centered dentistry?
Airway-centered dentistry is a different approach and see dentistry from the angle of airway health. Many modern day dental issues we are dealing with are related to airway health issues. Cavities could be related to mouth breathing and snoring. Grinding and clenching could be related to stressed airway and sleep apnea. TMJ issues and headaches often times are heavily correlated with the position of the jaw and under-development of the jaw structure. Dentistry can provide a lot of clues to our overall health, and often times it is the source of some health issues we are dealing with as modern humans. If we are able to make an influence in the position of teeth and the 3D space that houses the tongue, we might be able to improve a person’s overall health.
What is the best treatment for sleep disorders?
Sleep disorder are often related to the position of the tongue, size of the tonsils/adenoids, and the patency of the nasal passage. As dentist, we can influence the position of the tongue by either repositioning or expand the space for the tongue to function in. Currently, the gold standard for treating sleep apnea is still using a CPAP machine. However, other treatment modality are also showing promising signs of success.
Can snoring be cured permanently?
Snoring is a sign of a restrictive airway that causes fluttering/sound of soft tissue during breathing. Methods such as surgery, expansion, reposition could increase the airway which in the most successful cases will resolve snoring long term.
What is the main cause of snoring?
Snoring is a sign of a restrictive airway, and the in and out flow of air during breathing causes the soft tissue to flutter which in turn generates sound.
What’s the difference between snoring and sleep apnea?
Sleep apnea (obstructive sleep apnea) is defined as obstruction of airway, typically because of the position of the tongue. Often times snoring is a precursor that could lead to sleep apnea.
What is the best solution for snoring?
There are many ways to improve snoring. It could be as simple as mouth taping, or as extensive as double jaw surgery. Recommendation has to be carefully considered for each individual.
What is new in sleep apnea treatment?
CPAP currently is still the gold standard to treat sleep apnea. Implantable device such as Inspire is also available. Repositioning appliances (mandibular advancing device), as well as Vivos/DNA appliance have shown some promising results.
Is sleep dentistry safe? How much does a dental device for sleep apnea cost?
Dental devices range from repositioning devices to expansion devices. Cost also ranges from $2000 to over $10,000.
Can you live a long life with sleep apnea?
We know sleep apnea causes many chronic modern diseases. If you have a diagnosis of sleep apnea, it is recommended to seek professional help to alleviate the illness for quality and longevity of life.