Creating beautiful faces and good airways

At our practice, we believe that with early intervention (ideally around 6-9 years of age) we can help to create the right conditions for your child to grow their jaws and faces to their maximum potential. By doing this we will also help them to breathe well and develop habits which will improve their health for a lifetime. By guiding children to achieve their optimal growth potential they also develop enough room for all their teeth, straight teeth are a nice side effect!

Modern lifestyles have contributed to mouth breathing, sleep apnoea and poor diets in our children. This in turn promotes narrow underdeveloped jaws with no room for teeth or tongues. If nothing is done to encourage correct growth in childhood for these children, by the time most facial growth is complete (around 12 or 13) they will have crowded teeth in narrow jaws. Underdeveloped jaws are often associated with small airways which may leave them vulnerable to developing sleep apnoea in later life.

We use a combination of therapies to guide your child into achieving their full potential. This can include fixed or removable appliances, breathing exercises tongue and lip exercises, osteopathic adjustment, ENT referal and allergy testing. Without treating the whole child, appliances on their own cannot work and relapse (everything going back to the way it was) is likely to occur. We assess each child to tailor an approach which will best suit the individual child and your family's lifestyle.

Nasal breathing and correct tongue position creates wide U-shaped upper jaws which allow plenty of room for all the teeth, whereas mouth breathing and a low tongue posture encourages a V-shaped upper jaw with no room for teeth to grow.

The effects of mouth breathing on the face

"Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner."