Understanding the early years of your child’s life is very important for their growth and development. By age 2, 53% of the upper and lower jaw growth has occurred, and 80% of the size of the skull has developed, with the other 20% developing from age 2-17.
The remaining growth of the jaws and skull after age 2 is crucial and can mean the difference of a life of health and vitality, or a life wrought with illness and chronic disease. Airway growth continues after birth with diameter and length doubling or tripling until adulthood. As children advance through a sequence of growth stages, proper nasal-breathing, and tongue function is crucial for airway/jaw development and overall health. Normal, fully developed jaws will allow an anatomical structural form that can support a full set of teeth with no crowding or crookedness, no TMJ problems, a healthy oral airway, proper tongue space and an ideal craniofacial foundation for your child to thrive. This is where optimal health begins and these conditions perpetuate excellent health.
Unfortunately, due to soft diets, processed food, pollution, allergies, and other epigenetic factors, normal jaw growth is not very common today. Alarmingly, abnormal growth leading to underdeveloped jaws has become the norm. A mouth that is structurally impaired can result in mouth breathing, malocclusions and sleep breathing disorders resulting in poor health. Cognitive development , emotional and behavioral problems often seen in children are:
Mouth breathing
Snoring
Black circles under eyes
Noisy breather
Bedwetting
Hyperactivity and ADD/ADHD
Daytime sleepiness
The good news is that all the above symptoms can be successfully treated. Recognition and comprehensive evaluation of jaw growth issues, and resulting airway problems early on, is crucial in order to correct these developmental abnormalities and redirect growth for optimal function, comfort, health and beauty. If you are in the DFW area I recommend looking into The Stewart Center for Optimal Health. They recognize the complex nature of jaw growth and development and sleep breathing disorders and we believe that every patient presents with a unique history and clinical profile. They promote overall wellness by educating patients about the mouth/airway connection and by treating the myriad of sleep disordered breathing conditions and dental illnesses that arise from the chronic epidemic of compromised jaw/mouth development. Gaining an understanding of the importance of airway and jaw development is an important part of parenting, enabling parents to prepare and provide the proper care attention their child needs.
If you are not in the DFW area, I would encourage you to find a dentist who specializes in the above. They are rare, but they are growing and out there!
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