Treatment of Sleep Disordered Breathing

Get a Custom Treatment Plan from an ASAP Pathway Dentist

Although sleep-disordered breathing can be associated with serious dangers, it’s also a highly treatable condition. Each child’s experience with it is going to be different, and therefore to be successful treatment might also need to be different. Personal. This is the treatment philosophy of Airway, Sleep, & Pediatrics (ASAP) Pathway dentists. We look at all the different treatment options and help you find the best one for your child and you.

Contact a local ASAP Pathway dentist today to start treatment as soon as possible.

Designing a Custom Treatment Plan

We know that sleep-disordered breathing is treatable. Not only that, but there are many options for effective treatment. This lets ASAP Pathway dentists design a specific treatment plan for your child. This plan will be set up to achieve the best results for your child, and it will be based on:

  • The severity of the condition
  • The cause of your child’s breathing problems
  • Your child’s anatomy
  • Your child’s adaptability and/or acceptance of treatment
  • Limitations of budget, schedule, and more
  • The professional judgment of the treatment team

We need to factor in the severity of your child’s breathing problems when making treatment decisions. For more serious cases, we might recommend more invasive treatments that can yield immediate results. For less critical situations, gradual treatments might be best.

We want to make sure that any treatment option we recommend will actually be effective for them, so different treatments will be tried in different situations.

Your child’s anatomy matters because it intersects with treatment types, and helps determine whether particular treatments can be effective. It’s also important that we take into account your child’s ability to voluntarily participate in treatment. If we can’t get them to participate, some treatments won’t be effective. We also want to make your child as comfortable as possible while selecting an effective treatment.

Some treatment options are more expensive. Others require more of a time commitment. Your ASAP Pathway dentist will talk to you about your limitations and help you find the one that best reflects your family’s limitations.

Finally, your treatment team of dentists and/or doctors will use their professional judgment in selecting what’s best for your child and you. For example, all oral appliances used by ASAP Pathway dentists can be effective. But some dentists get better results with one appliance or another. You shouldn’t shop around for dentists using a particular device, but trust that the device a dentist uses will work if they recommend it for your child.

Types of Sleep Disordered Breathing Treatment

The common options used for treating pediatric sleep-disordered breathing include:

  • Surgery
  • CPAP
  • Appliance therapy
  • Myofunctional therapy
  • Orthodontics and/or orthopedics
Surgery

Adenotonsillectomy surgery used to be the main treatment option for pediatric sleep-disordered breathing. Removing the adenoids and/or tonsils can open up a child’s airway to improve breathing. However, this treatment option has fallen into less favor because it comes with potentially serious risks that might not be justified for your child’s condition.

Pediatric CPAP

Pediatric CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) uses a pump to force air through a hose and into a mask worn by your child. This air creates pressure in the child’s airway, holding it open.

Appliance Therapy

Appliance therapy holds the jaw in a particular position to keep the airway open. Appliance therapy for children also encourages the growth and development of the jaw and airway. We want to address jaw development that is still in progress. The hope is that we can encourage growth in a way that doesn’t just treat breathing problems, but actually cures them.

Myofunctional Therapy

Myofunctional therapy uses exercises to help your child establish positive habits in how they use their tongue and other muscles. Repeated muscle action and pressure can reshape the airway over time, acting as a true cure for sleep apnea. It can also encourage the development of the jaws, improving the function and appearance of your child’s jaws.

Orthodontics and/or Orthopedics

Orthodontics or orthopedics can also address some of the developmental issues that cause or contribute to breathing problems in children. In addition to straightening teeth for a better smile, orthodontics can reshape the jaw and therefore the airway to improve breathing and potentially cure breathing problems.

Find the Best Treatment for Your Child’s Breathing

If your child has sleep-disordered breathing, it’s important to get treatment sooner rather than later. Please contact a local ASAP Pathway dentist to learn what’s the best treatment for your child.