Can a misaligned bite be due to breathing problems in children?

Doctor's Answer

We do see that sometimes, especially if you notice that your kid has a very narrow upper jaw and it may be the upper front teeth not meeting each other, their face tends to be very narrow. You notice that they are breathing through the mouth a lot and their nose is always stuck, now this group of patients tends to develop some teeth alignment issues as they grow up. Because when you are breathing through the mouth, your mouth is always parted, the cheek is actually pressing on teeth causing the teeth to grow in a narrow manner that will cause some alignment issues so we do want to catch these patients early, maybe do a bit of expansion and create space.

I do work with ENT doctors quite closely so if we pick up these patients we will refer them, sometimes they need to get some nasal spray or patients need to remove their Adenoids so we do treatment that way and so that we can alter and improve their dental and health condition at the same time.

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