Health
Is Mouth Breathing ESSENTIAL Naples
Harmful to Your Health?
By Dr. Josephine Perez, DMD
SPRING 2022
20 “There are several reasons mouth breathing is bad for us—most importantly, it is a symptom of lack of oxygen, also known as airway issues. It is a major sign the body is not getting enough oxygen.” —Dr. Josephine Perez, DMD
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funny thing happened the other day—my husband and I attended a band and orchestra performance at our teenager’s high school, and as I watched these beautiful teenagers march into formations as they played their instruments to inspiring music, I was so proud and these kids were clearly having fun. But one thing kept distracting me. Originally trained as a ballet dancer, I had learned long ago that posture is everything! As I panned out to the entire group, I noticed that “forward head” position everywhere I looked. As each section took their breather, I noticed the long faces and open mouths. Those kids were mouth breathers! What’s so wrong with mouth breathing, though? A small amount of mouth breathing is normal if you have a cold or during strenuous exercise. But when we are at rest, there are several reasons mouth breathing is bad for us—most importantly, it is a symptom of lack of oxygen, also known as airway issues. It is a major sign the body is not getting enough oxygen.
Every Breath You Take
Anthropologists are telling us that the human skull is getting smaller and narrower, teeth are coming in more crooked than 30–40 years ago, asthma and allergies are at an all-time high, and teeth grinding is rampant—not to mention the high blood pressure, autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, concentration issues, and overall school performance issues that are related to our shrinking skulls and elongated faces causing airway issues and ultimately affecting our nutrition.
You see, mouth breathing starves the brain and the heart. Breathing through your nose floods the lungs with precious nitric oxide, which among other things, relaxes your blood vessels. We are losing our ability to breathe properly and most people don’t even notice it. Honestly, most people don’t even think about it. Studies show that 90% of the population has an inadequate airway. Why? Because the jaws are not growing adequately. Our faces are growing longer, our teeth and tongues don’t fit properly in our mouths, tonsils are huge, ear infections are on the rise, and so on. It’s a hard conversation to have when I see kids with underdeveloped jaws swallowing incorrectly and chewing incorrectly—all essentially because we are breathing incorrectly.
Time for a Rebuild
In the forward head posture, the jaws are not growing anteriorly and horizontally and the tongue is pushed backward. Oxygen therefore has a limited and constricted space to go thru on its way to the lungs; ergo, the head tips forward to bring the tongue forward so we can breathe. This also happens when the palates are vaulted and take up the space that was intended for the sinuses. Meanwhile, when the oxygen drops our brains shift into survival mode (sympathetic gear) and order our bodies to work hard at getting precious oxygen in. No wonder kids are exhausted today—sleep is meant to reboot and refresh everything but instead, their bodies are working overtime just to get the air they need.
3/18/22 10:38 AM
