Did you know that our entire jaw and mouth structure lie right in front of the airway? That’s right! This is the reason why treating the jaw and mouth structure is essential as it helps to significantly enhance the airway function that is the way we breathe and sleep. Also, how our face and jaw grows is one of the contributing factors to a healthy airway.
To enjoy optimal health, an individual needs to have a healthy airway, and this is where airway orthodontics can help. Airway Orthodontics is a branch of dentistry that helps keep the airway wide & open and treats malocclusion – misaligned teeth that lead to an improper bite. Orthodontics helps to not only straighten irregular, unevenly aligned and crooked teeth, but also helps improve breathing, speech, chewing and body posture.
This branch of dentistry understands that breathing, jaw, and sleep disorders can be caused by the incorrect resting posture of the tongue and the backward position of jaws. Thus, in airway orthodontics, the focus is on expanding the jaw to bring it forward, which helps widen the airway, improving an individual’s general health and well-being. Apart from widening the airway, airway orthodontics also helps correct spine posture, tongue posture, provides protection to TMJ joints and helps enhance sleep & breathing pattern.
1. Lowers the Risk of Tooth Decay: Since crooked teeth make it difficult to brush teeth effectively, there are high chances of plaque formation, leading to cavities and tooth decay. Straight teeth, on the other hand, makes brushing and flossing easy. This helps enhance oral health and prevents tooth loss.
2. Healthier Gums: Plaque formation can also cause inflammation & infection in gums known as gingivitis. By straightening crooked teeth, you can brush and floss much more efficiently as mentioned above. This, in turn, will help you maintain healthy gums.
3. Enhances Chewing Ability: An aligned bite is a healthy bite that can help improve your oral as well as general health. Along with improving your ability to chew, having the perfect bite helps improve speech.
4. Eliminates Uneven Wear and Teeth Grinding: When the bite is incorrect, it leads to uneven wear and chronic teeth grinding (also known as Bruxism). This can be resolved by teeth straightening.
5. Can Help With Sleep Apnea: If the root cause of sleep apnea is craniofacial abnormalities or improper position/size of the jaw, then correcting the position of teeth through orthodontic treatment is helpful. In adults, orthodontic treatment along with myofunctional therapy can be helpful. For children, Myofunctional Therapy alongside interceptive airway orthodontic treatment that uses growth modification appliances like Orthotropics, Twin blocks, Facemasks, Braces or Invisalign can help treat sleep apnea.
6. Keeps the TMJ Strong and Healthy: Since a misaligned bite can put undue pressure on teeth and gum, it can invariably affect the bones that support the teeth. An incorrect bite can also put stress on the jaw joint, causing TMJ pain, headaches and migraines. Hence, through teeth and jaw alignment using airway orthodontics, you can reduce body aches & discomfort as it helps strengthen the TMJ making it healthy.
7. Helps in maintaining a good body posture: When the airway is inadequately open, the body automatically alters the head posture, which, in turn, alters the body posture. With airway orthodontics, you can significantly improve the airway structure, thereby restoring good body posture that leads to a healthier life.
An orthodontist aims to:
As airway orthodontists, we follow an interdisciplinary approach to teeth straightening. We look for the cause and treat them holistically, addressing varied aspects – breathing, tongue posture, body posture, eating, sleep and mental well-being.
To book an appointment, get in touch with us today!
Let Us Know How Can We Help You!
