Pediatric Sleep Apnea Treatment in Houston
Put your child’s behavioral and sleep problems to bed. At Dassani Dentistry, Dr. Meghna Dassani’s passion is helping you and your child get the sleep you both ought to have.
Pediatric Sleep Apnea Treatment in Houston
Put your child’s behavioral and sleep problems to bed. At Dassani Dentistry, Dr. Meghna Dassani’s passion is helping you and your child get the sleep you both ought to have.
How to spot the signs of pediatric sleep disorder symptoms
When you think about pediatric sleep apnea, it is common to think of snoring as the biggest symptom. In reality, the symptoms of pediatric sleep disorders may surprise you.
In fact, if you notice any of these red flag challenges in your child, they may be suffering from a lack of quality sleep at night.
During the day, does your child experience:
- Mood swings
- Overeating
- Getting in trouble at school
- Difficulty concentrating
- Falling asleep during the day
At night, have you seen your child display any of the following:
- Trouble falling asleep
- Trouble staying asleep
- Mouth breathing
- Snoring
- Sleep walking
You may have a child experiencing a pediatric sleep disorder.
Pediatric Sleep Disorders Are Not Your Fault
The reality is there are many factors that can contribute to a lack of high quality sleep. Some of these risk factors include:
- Obesity
- Family history of sleep apnea
- Certain medical conditions
- Low birth weight
Early Treatment of Pediatric Sleep Disorders is Critical to Your Child’s Development
Unfortunately, if a child’s sleep and breathing disorder is left unattended, it can negatively impact the child’s life and often times little can be done to correct these symptoms as adults.
These health conditions include:
- ADD / ADHD
- Lower IQ
- Chronic Allergies
- Aggressive Behavior
- Mouth Breathing
- Swollen Adenoids & Tonsils
- Daytime Drowsiness
- Crooked Teeth
- Restless Sleep
- Bedwetting
- Nightmares
- Dark Circles Under the Eyes
- Snoring
- Irritability
- Frequent Headaches
- Arrested Growth
- Low Grades in Math & Spelling
Treatment is in Houston for Pediatric Sleep Disorders
Dr. Meghna Dassani uses a personalized, holistic approach so your child gets effective support quickly. Here’s how our process works:
- Schedule an appointment so we can get to know your desires.
- Answer an easy digital questionnaire so we can address your concerns.
- Together we will discuss a game plan toward healthy sleep.
- We perform a clinical exam to reveal a diagnosis.
- You receive a custom treatment plan personalized to your child.
Your child’s treatment options are customized on their diagnosis. Here are the treatment options we provide.
Orthotropics
Orthotropics is a branch of dentistry that focuses on correction of a patient’s oral and head posture by guiding the growth of the facial bones and correcting the oral environment, creating more space for the teeth and tongue by natural expansion of the palate. In children, the goal is to provide space in the mouth for all teeth, including the third molars or wisdom teeth. This is achieved in three ways:
- Improvement of muscle tone
- Correction of facial posture
- Teaching correct swallowing patterns
Different removable oral appliances are used to help with this process. Dr. Dassani also uses myofunctional therapy—exercises that teach patients to swallow correctly and build muscle function.
Myofunctional Therapy
The position of the tongue when swallowing can impact a person’s health, smile, and speech. An abnormal tongue position called a deviated swallow or “tongue thrust” can be found in adults and children with special needs, those living with speech disorders, and or even people who have misaligned teeth.
Myofunctional therapy is a specialized training method that exercises the mouth and facial muscles to correct a deviated swallow. Therapy is customized based on age and oral health condition and is intended to teach the patient to swallow correctly over time. Learning a healthier swallowing pattern should eventually lead to facial muscle strength and control, clearer speech, proper tooth positioning, and even more efficient digestion.
Dr. Dassani uses myofunctional therapy to assist in the treatment of pediatric sleep apnea.
Frenectomy Treatment
At infancy, symptoms of a tongue or lip tie can begin immediately. If your child has a tongue tie (also known as ankyloglossia), they may have trouble breastfeeding or bottle feeding. It’s also possible that they will show no symptoms early on, with symptoms showing up later in life, such as a speech impediment or they express difficulty in eating or reaching the back teeth with their tongue.
A frenectomy, or frenulectormy, is a simple surgical procedure to resolve a tongue-tie or lip-tie. Dr. Dassani releases the area of tissue so there is better function in the mouth. This procedure allows the lip or tongue the proper range of motion required to adequately swallow, and latch at the breast or bottle.
This treatment can benefit both the mother and the child. Babies are known to experience easier nourishment, less flatulence and upset demeanor, better sleep at night, and healthy weight gain.
Mothers often enjoy less nipple discomfort, effective feeding time, and a reduction in the amount of clogged ducts and mastitis.
HealthyStart® Oral Appliance
The HealthyStart® System is an oral appliance therapy that promotes natural growth and development, which addresses the root causes of SDB.
The HealthyStart® System has been specifically designed to promote the proper growth and development of the jaw and airway to optimize airflow and promote proper nasal breathing while straightening your child’s teeth. As these areas develop many of the symptoms of Sleep Disordered Breathing disappear. When kids can breathe properly, they can begin to learn, grow, and blossom into their true genetic potential … just as nature intended.
Many kids with the above health disorders are being “treated” with powerful drugs without evaluating a possible root cause. Our office can evaluate your child and indicate if there is a breathing and sleeping issue. Please take the sleep and speech questionnaire to make an initial evaluation of your child.
Healthy Start not only addresses the root cause of Sleep Disorder Breathing it simultaneously straightens your child’s teeth without braces. Best of all, when treatment begins early, the perfect smiles that the HealthyStart® Appliance System creates are less likely to relapse!
HealthyStart® creates healthier, happier kids who can breathe. Rarely has there ever been a single appliance or system with the power to impact your child’s health in so many positive ways. As a parent, you owe it to your child to give them every chance to succeed. Call today for more information on how to help children achieve their full potential.
HealthyStart® Appliances are FDA Cleared, BPA, Silicone and Latex Free, ISO Certified, and a Health Canada Class II Medical-Grade Device.
Treatment with the HealthyStart® Appliance System promotes natural growth and development and is safe and effective. HealthyStart® is non-surgical, non-pharmaceutical, pain-free and non-invasive therapy, is soft, comfortable and worn at night (or as directed) to assist parents who struggle with children affected by Sleep-Related Breathing Disorder, a restricted airway and crowded or crooked teeth.