Treating Sleep Apnea Without CPAP or Oral Appliances?

My practice of sleep disordered breathing therapy continues. I will be bolstering my continuing education in sleep medicine and sleep dentistry. My focus in the near future will be to learn how epigenetic orthodontics and medical management of allergies can help solve airway obstruction.

Epigenetic orthodontics is a philosophy of managing the right size and shape of the cranial, facial, and dental structures. This can be done with removable and fixed orthodontic appliances. People who have breathing disorders, either allergic or physiologic, deserve to be examined for deficiencies in the size and shape of the various structures associated with an open, patent airway. Some patients cannot tolerate CPAP or oral appliance therapy for sleep disordered breathing or apnea. Epigenetic orthodontics is another possibility for creating a better airway.

An allergist, orthodontist, dentist, and/or an ENT specialist are great resources. Consulting wtih them helps discover issues and organize a plan to address allergies and growth and development of a healthy airway to prevent breathing disorders for a lifetime. I realized that I can help supervise patients' care and direct them to the proper doctors when I recognize signs and symptoms of breathing disorders.

Managing allergies and food/environmental irritants is more personal now for me than ever. Our daughter has had various protein intolerances since she was little (see previous post), and our son has had some evolving trouble over the past 2 years with clearing his throat, poor sleep, congestion. So our investigation is now ramping up to identify the causes of his troubles. The process of managing allergies is complex, but I feel that there are certain trends that I have recognized with respect to kids' allergy onset, allergic events, and ongoing mitigation of their allergies. I'll share my recent experiences.

Allergies may come and go. Kids are very resilient and can function remarkably well while enduring allergy events. But it is their underlying growth and development that is changed in the face of allergic events. As parents, we have control over what we provide for our kid's nutrition, and the right nutrition plan is a powerful and successful tool in preventing or reducing allergic responses.

Environmental allergies are tough to prevent outside the home, but inside the home resonable changes can be made to reduce allergic response.

The mechanics of allergic events are centered around inflammation. Ears, noses, and throats are susceptible to changes in growth and development as allergies persist. In my kids, we have witnessed changes in their ability to breathe. This leads to problems with sleep quality, loss of concentration or focus, hyperactivity, moodiness, anxiety, depression.

We chose to test my son for allergies, permitted a CT scan of his airway, and initiated a baseline sleep study, all in our interest of better understanding of his allergy mechanics. We now know he has an upper airway obstruction that can help explain his poor sleep quality. He will have his adenoids removed soon.  We will remain vigilant about how and what he eats, and the cleanliness of our home for dust, pollen and other airborne allergens.