Your Jaws, Your Airway

By Lidio Rainaldi, DDS

If you missed my article last month, here’s the summary:

Small jaws, crooked teeth, blocked noses, enlarged tonsils, all cut off oxygen to the body, creating a domino effect of health problems. When oxygen to the brain is reduced, the brain cells die off. In children, the symptoms of low oxygen are the same symptoms as ADD.

Here’s Some History:

Here’s The Problem:

Our ancestors ate uncooked, tough, and chewy foods, constantly working their jaws and facial muscles. Their cheekbones and their noses grew wide and solid, and these wide faces were ideal for oxygen to pass into the body, unblocked. They also breastfed their children routinely up to age 5, and this motion of suckling began the strengthening of their jaws as well.

In the 1920s, a research dentist from Cleveland, Dr. Price, began to see that changes in his patients diets also changed their facial features. He wanted to investigate. Dr. Price and his wife spent 5 years visiting isolated cultures all over the planet. This was probably the final time in our history when people still lived in traditional societies, unaffected by “modern times.” In studying and living with these indigenous natives, he saw wide variations of culture and diets, but the same wide facial features as our ancestors. He also saw something else: dental decay was almost nonexistent. Most had never heard of a toothbrush. All these indigenous peoples lived in astonishingly good health, without a doctor or dentist, and without the luxuries of Western Civilization.

But when he visited the colonies overtaken by Europeans, this dentist saw a staggering amount of tooth decay, poorly formed jaws, crooked teeth, and impacted wisdom teeth.

Our modern lifestyle has caused a disastrous effect on our health. The change in our diet to processed, overcooked, and mushy foods eliminated the natural need for chewing. When the muscles of the jaw are not exercised, there is no growth.

Today’s children have much narrower faces, and this is not genetic. Bottle feeding, weaning to soft foods, and thumb sucking have all lead to poorly developed jaws and narrow airways. Rather than breathing with a closed mouth and through our noses, which is most healthy, we are now having to open our mouths to breathe, as many of us have some blockage. We’re unconsciously gasping for air.

Look at yourself and your posture. At rest, is your head upright or jutted forward? Are you breathing mostly through your mouth? Check each nostril to see if either is blocked. Are you snoring? Thrashing, restless sleep? Waking up tired? These are all indicators of blocked airway. Do the same with your family, looking also for the narrow face and crooked teeth.

Children are constantly growing, and their organs, especially their brains, need a lot of oxygen for proper growth and development. For adults and children alike, opening up blocked airways will greatly improve one’s health and performance, and give us all a good nights rest.

BE AN ADVOCATE for yourself, your family, and your child. Present any abnormal breathing and sleep patterns, or any other noticeable problem to your doctor, pediatrician, dentist, ENT specialist, speech pathologist. Educate yourself further with the 5 minute video mentioned below, which gives you questions to ask.

BE PERSISTENT. Airway Obstruction is new to all professions. Your provider may not be trained in the importance of a open airway. Keep pressing for answers. A specialist may see a problem, such as chronic ear infections, runny noses, allergies, poor breastfeeding, enlarged tonsils, slow development, and treat only the symptom, not realizing the root of the problem may be due to a lack of oxygen.

If your nose is blocked, try a Nasal Breathing Aide until you get to the ENT. Reusable Nasal Dilators (Amazon, $9), fit inside the nostrils providing immediate relief, possibly even reduced snoring.

EXERCISE YOUR JAWS. Eat crunchy, tough, uncooked foods: nuts, raw fruits, and vegetables. Stop eating mush!

SLEEPING ON YOUR SIDE OR STOMACH are the best positions for an open airway. When you lie on your back, the lower jaw and tongue drop to the back of the throat.

DENTAL VISIT: Have your dentist check if your child’s jaws are developing properly. If your mouth is small and teeth are crowded, widening a narrow dental arch will provide a life-time benefit for more air passing thru. If all possible, avoid orthodontics that pull teeth and squeeze the jaws closed.

DENTAL SLEEP APPLIANCE: One alternative to a CPAP is a nighttime appliance that brings your lower jaw forward while you sleep, opening up the airway. Consult with your dentist if this is indicated for you.

Get a SLEEP STUDY if you notice snoring, mouth-breathing, or any other indication of a blocked airway, especially for sleepy children being tested for ADD. Get the correct diagnosis. That “label” is on the medical record forever. Insurance looks for any label to increase costs.

If we can all work to increase good oxygen to our bodies, the greater our mental and physical health will be. References: Website: www.AirwayHealth.org YouTube video, or just Google: Finding Connor Deegan Books: GASP, Airway Health, by Dr’s M.Gelb and H. Hindin The Dental Diet, by Dr. Steven Lin The Oxygen Advantage, by Patrick McKeown

Bethany Church’s

Holiday Craft And Baked Goods Sale

Saturday, November 16, 2019 at Gallup Community Service Center 410 Bataan Veterans St. (due to renovations at Bethany) 9:00am - 2:00pm

Get ready to do your Christmas shopping and stock your freezer with goodies for the holidays! Delicious backed goods along with breakfast and lunch items will be available in the concession stand.

Our area offers a number of opportunities to get outside and enjoy our abundant days of sunshine. Here is a runner staying in shape at Red Rock Park.

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