JAWS & AIRWAY (BREATHING)

Proper airway development depends upon
good jaw and facial growth.

Equally, proper jaw and facial development
depends upon good airway growth.

(SOURCE: Enlow's Essentials of Facial Growth--1996)
Your Jaws ~ Your Life (page 32)

Your jaws form the gateway to your human airway and influence your life, for life. Your jaws are fundamentally as important to your health and survival as your heart and your brain. The airway through which you breathe includes two nose nostrils and the mouth.

Jaws, surrounding structures, and airways differ greatly from person to person. Humans with larger airways tend to breathe better and often perform better athletically. Humans with smaller airways tend to have more breathing problems, performance problems and overall health problems. Mouthbreathers who cannot breath well through the nose are at the highest health risk for hypertension, heart disease and other illnesses, even at an early age.

If you are the parent of a young mouth breather, Funtional Jaw Orthopedics provides non-surgical hope for enlarging a small airway. For those over age 30, the diagnosis and treatment options are more complicated but should be pursued.

David C. Page, D.D.S.
Your Jaws ~ Your Life (pages 33-39)