Mouth Breathing

[zeira]

Whoa! It's crazy to be able to read about other people experiencing the same problems. I have all the problems you guys are mentioning, receded chin, gummy smile, narrow palate, deviated septum, sinus infections all the time, tired, problems sleeping (some sleep apnea at one point, not sure if it's been solved).

My parents tried to solve my mouth breathing problems, I had my adenoids (is that what they are called?) taken out when I was 8 or so, I had an expander in when I was 12 which made some room, I almost got my septum fixed but I freaked out because they weren't going to put me under, I went to see countless ENTs... I think I'm most mad at my first ortho who kept saying she couldn't straighten my teeth if I kept being a mouth breather, as if I could do anything about that...

My question is whether I should expect a SARPE to fix my breathing, or whether I should ask about seeing an ENT for this. I think my breathing has gotten better in the last years, I'm not sure if it's using more saline sprays, some allergy treatments I got a while ago, the expansion when I was 12, but it's far from perfect.

Thanks for sharing all this info here! It's so useful.

[fromjersey]

Zeira: I've been a big mouth breather most of my life and I sure wish somebody had done something when I was young, like noticing it for instance.

On avoiding deviated septum surgery because it was not going to be general anesthetic -- I had my septum fixed at age 42 with only local anesthetic. An ENT doctor did it and I never felt any pain, just heard the snap, crackle and pop. But unfortunately I have many nasal allergies, so my nose still gets obstructed. I never had turbinates fixed, have only heard about such surgery here in recent years. I use nasal sprays every night because of my nasal allergies.

I had sliding genioplasty at age 79 and this helped my sleep apnea and also my awful profile.
Helen

[zeira]

Wow! Thanks a lot for the reply Helen. I'll have to bring this up with my surgeon and ortho next time I see them. My current treatment plan just includes SARPE. Maybe I can see an ENT to see what they suggest. It would be great to finally solve all these problems. I wasn't concerned about the other aspects: profile, chin, etc until I've started reading more on it (I thought my lack of cheekbones was due to mouthbreathing, but attributed everything else to genetics). It would be great to solve all those breathing problems.

My profile looks really bad in the photos I posted, but I usually keep my lip relaxed and I have a chin like that . It also looks like the bite retainer I have for now is improving my bite and changing my profile slightly (I think it bring the lowers jaw out a bit, and it fixes the overbite, so the teeth don't sink in anymore, plus I don't shift, so my bite is symmetric now, crazy what a piece of plastic can do!!). So maybe they can achieve all that with braces in the end.

I'm so excited about all this. Can't wait to see myself in two years!

[Vyse]

I am also a mouth breather, been one most of my life. Is it possible to train yourself to be a nose breather. Any success stories?

[balor124]

Very nice thread. Shame it isn't more active. I'll answer the last question - get on a nasal CPAP. 8 hours of practice a day does the trick.

[lissybear22]

You guys have been exploding my brain with this topic. I am nearly a classic example of what you guys are talking about here. I have chronic head/back/neck aches. When I was little I thought my hair was too heavy (thanks mom), and so kept it short for a bit, but to no effect.

I was a classic thumb-sucker; mouth breather. Then I tried to train myself out of it and became a teeth grinder....and I mouth breath also. It's lovely. I have the classic narrow palate, long face, gummy smile. I have allergies. I have the weird forward-posture. I am ALWAYS tired. I thought it was because I was depressed (which is genetic, and I it's still very possible) and lazy, and just otherwise broken. I am 30 years old, and though I have known I was a mouth breather since high school, I did not know it was such a big deal!!!!!!!

Sheesh.

[balor124]

Didn't mention it earlier but I've had a lot of these problems as well. I have a class 3 malocclusion, anterior open bite, and a high arch. My bite was fine until college, other than wear from grinding. My airway is 224mm^2 at its most narrow but still manage to have severe OSA. Growing up I was a 50% mouth breather I think.

[Nozzelnut]

I'm in the club too. Mouth breather for a very long time; not so much during the day but full time when I sleep. I hope that having braces and probable orthognathic surgery next year will help fix the nasal congestion/breathing passages all around so I can breathe better at night so I can get rid of the my APAP machine.