Is CPAP the Answer for Kids With Sleep Related Breathing Disorders
(Newswire.net — September 25, 2017) Winnetka, IL — Sleep Disordered Breathing is the Hot Topic in the News. ABC’s Good Morning America aired a recent segment addressing children with sleep concerns including snoring.
Most parents do not realize that snoring and mouth breathing can cause complex health concerns. The natural position for healthy breathing is always inhaling and exhaling through the nose. When a child’s mouth falls open while sleeping, the lower jaw falls back, cinching the airway causing a lack of oxygen that is essential for the body and brain.
When breathing through the nose, proper tongue placement is achieved and the jaw stays forward keeping the airway open and clear. The nose is designed to naturally filter the air. Mouth breathing and an obstructed airway can result in sleep apena, swollen tonsils and adenoids, chronic allergies, stunted growth and development, speech issues, crooked and crowded teeth, ADD / ADHD type symptoms, poor performance in school and more.
A child who is diagnosed with sleep apnea could be prescribed the CPAP treatment, but currently only 1-2% of children qualify which results in 88% of the remaining children who are suffering with outward symptoms not being treated, overlooked and many times misdiagnosed. Unfortunately, many of these outward symptoms are treated as isolated symptoms without looking at them as possible clues to an underlying issue or root cause. Research has linked these outward symptoms such as ADD/ADHD, Allergies, Asthma, bedwetting, night terrors, etc. to breathing and sleeping problems in the young child.
A recent study of 501 children found that 9 out of 10 children exhibit one or more outward symptoms suggesting a much more prevalent problem, acccording to the Journal of the American Orthodontic Society, by Brooke Stevens, BS, University of Michigan and Earl O. Bergersen, DDS, MSD
How are these outward symptoms being misinterpreted? Recent research has found that 86% of ADD/ADHD diagnosed children have sleep and breathing issues. Interestingly, the criteria that is used to evaluate for ADD/ADHD is the same or similar criteria used to screen for Sleep Disordered Breathing. Statistics show that 50% of the children that are diagnosed with ADD/ADHD are held back one grade and 30% are held back two grades. So, the question is, what happens to the child that is experiencing sleep issues instead of the condition of ADD/ADHD? Holding a child back one or two grades will not help the child who is actually suffering from sleep issues to perform better in school. What happens to the child that has been put on medication, even with increase of dosage, shows no improvement of symptoms? Should sleep evaluations be the first line of defense before evaluating for ADD/ADHD?
Healthy Start has developed tools, based upon research, that allows a parent to evaluate their child initially with a Healthy Start Sleep Questionnaire which identifies 27 of the most prevalent sleep issues and asks the parent to assign a number from 1 to 5 to indicate the severity of each symptom.
Healthy Start promotes a “dream team” collaboration that combines the Pediatrician, the ENT, the Sleep Drs., and the dental professional. This dream team fully addresses and evaluates all factors in sleep by determining the symptoms, identifying the underlying root causes and treatment in a non-pharmaceutical, non-invasive and conservative manner. The Healthy Start treatment is then delivered by a dental professional. The treatment promotes growth and development in order to address the underlying root causes of poor development of the jaws, narrowness of the arches, poor habits such as tongue thrust, mouth breathing, etc. to name a few. Healthy Start focuses on children ages 2 – 12 to take advantage of the craniofacial growth, which provides permanent results.
For more information or for interview contact:
Kathie Turner
832-880-3165
Communications and Public Relations
kathie@kathieturner.com
Source: TheHealthyStart
