Breathe
easy.
Inhale. Exhale.
understanding airway.
A dysfunctional airway can be caused by the upper and lower jaw being too narrow and set too far back, blocking the airway that sits behind the jaws.
Your teeth have more to do with how you breathe than you think.
People mainly go to the dentist to get their teeth checked for cavities. And it’s not uncommon to have a cavity or two at your checkups. But, it wasn’t always like this.
Just a few hundred years ago, human beings had naturally straight teeth with no decay. As we’ve developed as a society, we’ve stopped breastfeeding our infants as long and have transitioned over to bottles and soft food at a significantly younger age.
This has actually changed the way our jaws and chewing muscles are formed, creating a recess in the lower third of the face. This causes the lower jaw to become smaller with less room for your teeth and tongue, forcing the teeth to crowd and the tongue to drop back and obstruct the airway—especially while sleeping. This phenomenon is what we now call sleep apnea.
So, how can we fix this?
Through airway-centric dentistry.
We are a Vivos® integrated provider. Vivos is an appliance system that is used to treat airway deficiencies. In tandem with Vivos and traditional dentistry practices, we assess how your airway could be contributing to your dental problems and your overall health.
Signs of Airway Dysfunction
Dark circles under the eyes, flat or lack of cheekbones, mouth breathing, dry mouth/lips, swollen tonsils/adenoids, "small chin" or set back lower jaw, crowded teeth or no spacing between baby teeth, tongue/lip tie, forward head posture/"hump" at the base of the neck, and an overactive gag reflex.
Long term risks of untreated airway dysfunction
High blood pressure
Chronic pain
Cardiovascular disease
Sudden death
Obesity
Anxiety
Stroke
Lower immunity
Fatigue
Diabetes
Depression
Symptoms in children
ADD/ADHD
Snoring
Clenching/grinding teeth
Hard to wake and get going in the morning
Extended bedwetting
Dark circles under the eyes
Mouth breathing
Symptoms in adults
Daytime sleepiness
Fatigue
Anxiety
Depression
High blood pressure
Snoring
Clenching and/or grinding teeth while asleep
For Parents
Our airway and pattern of breathing start developing from the moment we are born. This radical change of our skull and jaw structure in just the past hundred years can be attributed to how we’ve changed what and how we feed our infants, babies, and toddlers.
We used to breastfeed our babies for three years. As we’ve moved away from breastfeeding and toward bottles, pacifiers, and finger-sucking, it’s changed the swallow pattern and how the face develops. Instead of growing out and forward giving the tongue plenty of space, it becomes more narrow and set back causing obstruction of the airway.
“The act of breastfeeding grows the jaws and teaches the tongue a swallowing pattern that continues to grow and maintain fully developed dental arches. ”
Dr.
meredith smedley
After practicing dentistry for almost 20 years, Dr. Meredith Smedley started questioning the traditional techniques of battling tooth decay. She didn’t understand why it was standard to use toxins like fluoride and mercury in treatments instead of researching the reason why it was occurring at such an increasing rate. This is how she found airway-centric dentistry. In 2015 she took an airway residency through the Rafel Center for Integrative Education and in 2019, she pursued training for and became a Vivos Integrated Practitioner. Since then, she has been treating patients by noninvasively helping unobstruct their airways for better dental and overall health. More about Dr. Smedley.
“It was a big day when I learned how I wanted to practice is 180 degrees from how I was trained.”