Dentists Reveal: How Breathing Patterns Affect Kids’ Health

Introduction and Guest Background 0:00

There's a lot bells on our lives nowadays, but there is always hope. We always have to keep hope alive. And it's important for parents to know that, yes, starting in infancy is great. The sooner the better. But it's never too late. I have my seat back now and after three years, so if it can happen for me, it can happen for anybody else as well. And so always trust the instinct. That motherly instinct that tells you something is not right. Or they could be more and look for it and trust it and do the best you can until you're not there.

This is Doctor Tosh, real talk from real doctors on only issues that matter to you. Most. Hi, everybody. I'm Doctor Nancy O'Hara, and I'm really excited to introduce you to two of my favorite people. And definitely two of my favorite dentists, doctor Lynda Dean Drew and Doctor Crystal Dean drew. They are pioneering mother daughter duo that really are transforming pediatric dentistry with an integrative, airway centric approach. With over 35 years of combined experience, they specialize in optimizing the growth and development of our children, focusing on how craniofacial structure really impacts and systemic help.

And their expertise includes advanced therapies such as laser assisted treatments or a facial Maya functional therapy, growth guidance, appliance therapy and all of this supports holistic health and development. And they're really passionate about educating families. We've lectured together and and also helping professionals on the connection between oral health, airway function and overall well-being, especially in complex cases like what we see in pens and pandas. So thank you both so much for being here.

Professor. Thank you so much for having us. You know, and tell. You know, our listeners, our viewers who are parents as well as professionals. You know how you got here, how you got to to look at this stuff in this way. You know, it's a very interesting question because I'm a recovering sleep apnea patient myself. And as a matter of fact, I was CPAp dependent for over seven years. And the way that I got diagnosed was like an internist because I couldn't recover from what we thought was bronchitis.

She took a look at my mouth and said, you must have sleep apnea, I know right? I've been a dentist for a long time, but something in the mouth after that sleep apnea, I would know and I know, right? So she sent me for a test and she was right. I had my sleep apnea and my symptoms were severe. So I really put me on a CPAp. And the symptoms, the brain fog, all those things then went away. And it was great for seven years. Then it stopped working and my option was to have my jaws broken so it can make more room for my dog.

So that will stop falling into my airway space. And I like no thank you. And I wish since for myself, I get to find out a lot more about sleep and breathe and how you how well your face grows and how it impacts that. And I look at pictures of me at nine months of age, all the signs that I had, that's 12 speakers, that twisted neck, open mouth breathing, which literally turned into like anxiety and migraines all the time. Anyway, long story short. So it became clear to me that the signs are there from infancy and we see babies as as early as two days old.

So we have the ability and the privilege of being able to redirect that growth. And that's how it was like going back to school. And so that's how it started down a lot more or less, the journey being more holistic and tackling it from infancy and through guidance, as well as the root cause and getting to root cause issues. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. You know, that's why we have so much in common. You know, it's it's really about, you know, because even though, you know,

Airway Health and Early Craniofacial Development 4:10

maybe getting to the sleep apnea was the root cause of your fatigue and all of that getting over the bronchitis. But even deeper than that, the, the, the CPAp was almost a little bit of a of a, you know, blame it tainment sort of thing as, as Doctor Baker would say, and really looking back at the things much earlier on and all the wonderful things you do for our kids. Yeah. It's fascinating. So how do airway health, craniofacial development, oral hygiene, all of that influence the inflammation that our children with pans and pandas go through?

Well, and the great question about so many years of knowledge trying to put into and the, you know, short answer, however, you know, the body has to be able or the mind, the brain has to be at a proper relaxed state, right, that autonomic nervous system. And so if they're not breathing well, say, because their jaws are small and their tongue is not fitting where it needs to fit, and their the growth of what they're supposed to, the way they're supposed to be growing is not growing in the right direction.

That increases that set of sympathetic, you know, drive. Well, I don't allow for good sleep, doesn't allow for good breathing, doesn't allow for good immune system, immune function and healing. And so it you know, the pieces were never kind of put together some time with different providers and things like that. But when you start to think about it and you see it in a young child, you see it actually happening or they're just not functioning well because they're, you know, they have flat affect.

Their mouth is open all the time. They're breathing through their mouth. There's a lot of inflammation because they're not using the the apparatus that's supposed to filter the nose and, you know, filter all the pathogens and warm the air and not make it's so difficult for their bodies to breathe. Then their bodies are trying to then figure out what to fix, what to heal. So that's we started to see that connection over and over and over. When you just have a small jar. No, not enough room for your tongue or your tongue is attached.

Right. You have you have tongue tied or you other tattered or oral tissues that starts to affect how everything functions. And so it's like a ripple effect throughout the entire body. Yeah. Yeah. And you can see just in the way you're talking about it, how the, the craniofacial development, the airway health affects that fight flight or freeze that we always talk about that our kids with anxiety or pans pandas specifically go through and and how that impacts the the vagus nerve. In that that so yeah.

So even yeah actually I was just going to add that it might even just start from birth. Right. And so obviously the the environment where the baby grows influences how the baby and that comes out and also when they birth is our first traumatic experience. So coming through the birth canal has its own, has its own trauma that is associated with. And so and even with C-section, they have to pull the pad out. So as a baby is coming through the birth canal, all the skull bones, the cranial bones are all in little pieces.

And so it's much more fashion and look and see. And so if they're coming and there was prolonged label or there was induced label, they have a lot of compressive forces, then I'd actually affect especially the US. And the two very important nerves come out from that. And that's the hyper vessel nerve which supplies the tongue, and the vagus nerve, which is the arrest and digest. So if it gets compressed, even at birth, somebody has to know that and be able to say, okay, here's what we do. Osteopathic.

We it's again the motion that the body needs so that the brain can actually function properly. So it starts very early. Right. And with yeah, I. Remember years ago cranial sacral therapist saying to me, you know, in our very developed country, we are one of the few countries that doesn't do osteopathic cranial sacral maneuvers after birth. And and it's part of why we have so many ear infections, sinus infections. And as you're saying, you know, all of the airway health and craniofacial development.

So and, and the, the lack of or our feeding practices have changed as well. So breastfeeding is not, you know, encouraged and motivated as, as much. And it's very important to understand that breastfeeding is not only for nutrition. It's actually for the development of the face. So as we talk about that birth, right, if you already had a traumatic birth and you don't have the ability to you have compression, but then you don't have the ability to breastfeed. There's certain things that are still continue to stay tight.

And the development of your face or the tongue that's supposed to be using to help build your face doesn't get the exercise or the movement in the motion that it's supposed to, which then has downstream effects. Right? We're supposed to suck, swallow, breathe as soon as we come out. That's and that's a neurological stacking that needs to be done for other things to to, to start manifesting or execute in our brain. So it's just it's wow, wow, amazing stuff that happens as we're coming out into this world that we're supposed to get, that we've kind of just let go is like, oh, it's just because everybody's not able to do then it's common, right?

Yeah, that's normal or yeah, those are normal. Right. Well so yeah, it's a it's very interesting. And and you mentioned that you see babies as, as young as two days old. I mean up where I live, you know, people are talking about going to see their dentist before two years, let alone, you know, even later than that. That's and that's. Amazing. Much too late. Yeah. So, so how do you how do you get people to know to come at two days of age or or even as infants, you know, are you dependent upon referrals?

I mean, how how do you help families to see this? Yeah. For the most part, yes. They come to us because they're having latching problems. The signs from the past 7 or 8 years we've been educating our parents and they go, okay, you having that baby, the next time you have a baby, you have pain nursing. You need to come see. Yeah. So it's it's not supposed to be painful. It's supposed to be enjoyable for the mother and the child. And so that's how we get a lot of them. And some of them come from pediatricians and lactation consultant and do liars as well.

And okay, good thing about it is that in our practice, there's a there's a bigger understanding of why a baby may not be matching, because it's not always because it's it's not always because of tongue tied. It's important to understand the story of that birth and also do non-surgical things, because we mentioned that nonsurgical laser treatment, that's one of the things that we do to loosen up the pressure we work collaboratively with. And I'll set up a physician just to make sure those cranial bones are having good motion and impingement, and the compressive forces are no longer as affected on that.

And then if the baby still can't latch or we see like a structural tie with first, still have to have the nervous system ready before being late. More trauma on it. So sometimes some parents, a lot of places they go, they can breastfeed, they just cut the tie up. It's never a tie, but it really is what the baby needs. You first. Gotta understand that the birth process has may have made it difficult for this baby to nurse, which is something that should come naturally. You know, they get out, then crawl up, smell the blues, they don't go see it, and they grab to it and latch onto it, and that's swallow it.

And then decompress.

Laser Therapies and Minimally Invasive Dentistry 12:40

And so yeah, I've, I've made it so that my baby couldn't do what it naturally supposed to do. You find that and help them get back on line. So yeah. Oh that makes so much sense. So much sense. But talk a little bit more about all of the laser therapies. You know, whether it be baby lasers or lasers, you know, laser assisted dental fillings. Go go through them a little bit. For me or how do we start. So it's similar. Let's see the non-surgical is somewhat similar. The the photo bio modulation concept I call it because typically photo via modulation which you're using light energy to cause you know, by biological processes or biological effects, especially to the mitochondria and all of that.

But typically PBM doesn't use heat flow, right. Like well yeah. Like red light therapy, something like that. Your, your pitot things like that. But what we're using penetrates even deeper. It uses heat but it doesn't doesn't destroy the tissues. It goes to the 1064 nanometer wavelength. And that is able to then now not only got to, you know get down into the cells, it gets down into the nervous system. You can touch a nerve, it can touch blood vessels. It can then open up the muscle, like get deeper into the muscles and just release the fashion fiber.

Because that fascia is what's holding our nerves is what's holding our our blood vessels, is what's kinked up and gets tightened. And so it's able to melt the hyaluronic acid crystals that have built up. So that's been a beautiful thing because then and that. Yeah. So that allows for glide and motion of the muscles. Why why should you melt the hyaluronic acid that's been, you know, kind of frozen. Frozen. Why do you melt that the allows more mobility in our bodies and motion is everything. I mean it's it sounds very hippie dippy, but motion in our body is everything in our fascia.

If that's tight, you don't get motion in your blood vessels. You don't get motion in your muscles. You don't get less motion in your nervous system, which right. Very important, especially for these babies like we talked about. And so being able to put some light energy in the back of the head and the tongue in this oral fascial region, knowing that the tongue is connected all the way down to the tip of the toes, the body fascia. All right. So if you help release that, then you can actually see a structural tie.

Because a tongue tie is not just for complex tissues. So you want to actually be able to cut what you're supposed to cut. So that and so baby lays gnarly is developed by Doctor Nordstrom and Doctor Andy Tan Holder that they developed it using all different types of other principles acupuncture as well. So there's different techniques that are used among along along the head and neck area. And so I think you need to know oh yeah you can use it all over the body. But for the oral aids baby lace therapy, that's what it is.

And we're dentists. So we're here. Yep yep yep I'm here. Yeah. You're right for ourselves. I use it everywhere. The laser everywhere. Yeah. Now, now how does that reduce inflammation. So okay so with the reduction of inflammation in your if there's any compression it's also increasing my income statement. Mitochondria is the mitochondria. Yeah. You're if you're you can hit light energy. And the so many studies I talk about it that you hear improving how a cell works because of the metabolism from the the mitochondria.

So that's that's doing all types of different types of magic. It's also well so yeah go ahead. Yeah. Increase blood flow as well. Yeah. To the areas. Yeah. More able to resist. And your body is more able to fight infection and inflammation. Yeah. Right. Right. And if you're reducing if you're supporting that neural integration and also reducing the that that that tension, you know, that in of itself can can reduce inflammation. Just making things work better. Right. Yeah. Just waking things up like that's what we forget sometimes.

You like we talked about the compression that lasts throughout life. It doesn't you know, and it's not that it that the nerve is not working. It's just not transmitting as, as as robust and readily like it's supposed to. Right, right, right. That it's been it's been game changing. To be honest, I first I mean, for, for someone like me who needs to see I'm a dentist, right. So we we need to cut, you know, very structured things and we need to see and remove and do all these things. This has been such a big, huge change.

And just allowing light energy what you can't see, which doesn't you can't even you feel warmth, but not you can't feel it to do a lot of magic. And it's done a lot of magic on ourselves and our patients and things like that. So that's been amazing in that bio stimulation world. But then on and to to continue, we use lasers to cut to help us do surgical cutting, which is what I mean. I love the surgery portion. So having like a laser that that's able to do it without a lot of hemorrhaging with just healing is just amazing.

I it's very precise. But you have to understand laser physics. You know, some people just get the laser in this part. You know, you can't do that. You have to be you have to understand what the tissue interaction, things like that. But once you do and just being able to use it for different types of, you know, it's helping with wards. Herpes is helping with, you know, inflammation in the in the mouth. It's when we're using it for laser fillings. Right. You're gonna think less tooth structure like I mean you don't.

It's directing because of the the wavelength the type of it is a different type of wavelength. It then directs to bacteria which have more water content. Right. And so because it's got more water content is going to go right to it versus just kind of using a rudimentary kind of drill, which I call rudimentary, but it's does it's still, you know, standard of care we still have to use sometimes. I know I, I've been to the dentist. Right. But having and understanding on a micro level like what what that's doing to the tooth and having it takes off a bit more tooth structure leaves in some stuff more than you would want to, versus using a laser energy which can get to the awesome places and take out, be very conservative and remove and removing two structure and then also leave the tooth like without the decay, without the bacteria, because it's zapped it away.

Yeah. So that's that's been that's pretty cool as well. And even yeah, you root canals and you know that it's a really important technology. Install the sweeps technology for this particular laser of and another another manufacturer laser. But what it does is because it's sending the laser energy into the canals and the little mini root canals that you may not be able to see or may not be able to even get with the normal instrumentation, that leaves the tooth a whole lot healthier. And I know a lot of people that go, I don't want to root canal like the day we did that.

Well, we understand that, right? And that's because they haven't been able to use the technology that gets to the places where you can readily see so that you can remove the bacteria, because having your natural tooth is always going to be better than having as, say, an implant place the implant now. So yeah, this it's a cost benefit. That's why we don't jump on to the argument about root canals being to her home, because it's not just one canal. We were saying there are other random canals in the body.

And that's why this laser energy is so important. Because it uses like this ultrasonic energy to just get to it. And then that makes it a better treatment than what was before. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you know, in a lot of kids with pans pandas, we talk about things in the mouth, particularly dental procedures causing a flare that that these kids will get worse after they get fillings placed or get apparatus put in or get teeth removed. I could imagine that the way you're doing this with laser assisted dental fillings, that, that, that flare, that, that exacerbation of their anxiety or OCD or whatever their symptoms may be, might be less just does that seem true?

Less vibration? It's obviously getting more. And to my micro real right. Because you're just removing the actual decay without adding more senior layer. I don't know what how to say, I don't know. That's manipulator of the teeth. So yeah. So so yeah, less vibration even for extractions. After you you take a tooth out, you need you still need to, you know, clean the area out and and and make sure. And so using that laser energy you know that it's cleaning the area out. Right. Right. Because you know, our mouth is full of germs.

It's and you know, the oral hygiene is so important to our gut health and to our body health. So I can see where the laser, you know, could really help to decrease the seeding of those germs to into the rest of the body. So absolutely, absolutely. And we encourage, the pandas fans, patients to practice better nasal hygiene as well. And this way they can actually maybe have their lips closed more so that their mouth is now open all the time, which again, aside from the microbiome, changes the microbiome in the mouth and may make them be more prone to cavities as well.

Yeah. Others drier. Yeah. Just reading through your mouth as well. Right. Can we talk a little bit about the mouth breathing. Because I think this abnormal breathing that a lot of our kids do, people don't. Moms dads may not think about that. Yeah. My my kid sleeps with our mouth open. You know, what's the big deal? Yeah. Can you talk about why that is a big deal? What it means all of that. Well, and and that's going through the mouth is generally just going straight into your lungs. It's bypassing the natural filter that goes from the nose and filters and humidifiers.

And at once the air, it prepares the air for the body to use. And it also has nitric oxide, which is very important in being able to get the blood vessels and get motion and get blood flow easily. So when they are breathing through their mouth, they lose all of that. So it's almost like you're just getting dirty air straight into the lungs. And so your body is struggling, you're having to breathe a lot more and the body is struggling. The brain is going, this is not a used to. So they have to actually work more using the resources from your brain trying to breathe versus just trying to grow.

Mouth Breathing, Oral Hygiene, and Growth Guidance 24:10

And so that's what makes it very unpredictable for for patients, and especially when they already have the pandas patterns that they're struggling with. And and so mouth breathing has also been implicated in a lot of the tussles mad noise getting lodged. And yeah, just because you have those taking out doesn't mean that you've taken care of what caused them to get in life in the first place. Actually, the research says that about 75% of those who grow back and sometimes they were taking out because the kids were having maybe sleep apnea symptoms, but 75% of them over the long term.

So have the symptoms. So only 25% of them got better really over the long term. Yeah. Yeah. It becomes really important that they're not breathing through their mouth using a lip seal. And it's one of those things that when we see them early, we encourage from trying to teach the parents as a growth guide. And after we take care of their restricted oral tissues. Yeah, they're starting ortho essentially. Yeah. Infancy. And we're starting to guide the growth. Yeah. Early on. And that involves lip seal using certain appliances things like that.

Yeah. Because then the nasal breathing helps with the job growth as well. Right. But if you're not getting that then that is not growing like it should at times not function like it should because it's always laying low and you have a high vaulted palate when you have a high vaulted pallet that takes up the space on the nose, your jaw remains back. And so, you know, it weighs much less. Yeah. Yes. There's just nothing good for open mouth breathing. And sometimes parents don't recognize it because they think your mouth has to be open to this.

All this time you know. Yeah, it's the leaning is a saying is the. Self. And it's ever slightly so open and you know, even for for me, for the longest time I knew I was doing it at night, but I didn't think I was doing it during the day. However, I would always say my lipstick doesn't stay on and now they say, oh, this is non removing loud pay. Whatever it is, I can do it because because it will always be gone. So ultimately I found that, you know, during this journey when I started learning more, I would one day we just finished, started to take a training class and I was walking into the lounge in our office.

We had a big mirror and I go, oh, my mouth is open and it's not very long. I open like this and I couldn't, but I could see that it was never really closed. So I was constantly licking my lips because it felt dry. And that's how I knew, oh, that's a problem. That's like, wow. Yeah, but but I mean, you were not a young person even though you're still very young, but you were not a young person when you found all these things out. And, and so even though we're talking about things that people can impact in their babies and at birth and very early on, there are still many things that people can do when they realize this for their older children. Yes.

Absolutely, absolutely. And a lot of the patterning of mouth breathing starts when the child gets sick. Right. And so one thing to understand that mouth readings like rescue breathing, we are we can breathe through our mouth. That's why it's there as a last that resort or resort or last resort. Right. And so it's what happens to a child when they're sick. When they're sick, they just like, well, I can't breathe through my nose. I'm going to. And then the pattern continues because it's the easier way to breathe.

And so one thing parents can do is I during I when a child is sick to to really practice nasal hygiene is it's clear or nasal rinses even if they're not sick. That's the other thing. Think of it like a home filter. It needs to be cleared out. You know this once a week and every other day we say, but not, you know, not every day, not every often. But if the child is sick, then definitely it need their nose needs to be clear, encouraging, having them with their lips close those toddlers, you know that when they get sick, then that patterning starts, then they start having those high inflammatory foods that then cause more, you know, inflammation, more just essentially sticky mucus.

Seniors in their bodies. And then if they've got asthma, that gets exacerbated. And so it is it's a it's like an insidious kind of, you know, habit that that has its real effects, that it really has its effects. And the research is now coming out to show more and more, even though so simple. Right. And when people like us just it's fine. It's okay. It's cute. It's like snoring. It's not cute. No, no. And and you know, are there other things that you talk to families about about their oral hygiene.

You know, what else do you do. You tell them. Because I think that has a big impact on all of our children, and especially our kids with pans and pandas. So the most important thing is, well, I always go back to when they were babies or because that forms the foundation is encourage chewing. By the time the baby is five months old, the brain is ready for the chewing reflex and the chewing is going to help to bring the bottom jaw forward, which gives you more space to breed. It also lets the tongue be able to move up more, which helps to widen the jaw and lowering the roof of the mouth, which gives you more space for your nose so you can breathe easier that way.

So will encourage always getting whole foods, chewing whole foods, and less of the packaged foods, the more inflammatory causing foods as well, and also encouraging the child to sit up and sit up straight and have their feet be supported because that's part of their posture and that's part of the brain, not having to worry. Are you going to fall over again? What are you doing? And that's part of what helps it in the parasympathetic state and having true to their food, at least 15 to 25 times before they swallow it.

And, and in terms of making sure they're brushing well and flossing their teeth, yeah. Plus one plus. And they don't have to use a fluoride toothpaste. They can use one that has hydroxyapatite to it as a matter of fact, I go like, toothpaste is like soap. You can wash your clothes. It's just easier when you have soap when you're washing it so they don't have to use toothpaste is actually the mechanical action of the brush that helps you remove the plaque off of the teeth. Because some of these kids are very sensitive.

So we can't have said the laurel sulfate on some of the cells that is in toothpaste. And sometimes. But that's very useful to know that. Yeah, you can just use an electric toothbrush in water and just get the cleaned and get the teeth clean, and also get like a tongue scraper and metal tongue scraper and then scrape their tongues every day. That's very helpful. We're not big on mouthwash for the kids, but if they have to use one, just make sure it doesn't have any alcohol and there's some that is made of gold, little silver, or what else is there for mouthwash?

Some use like coconut coconut wash. And I'm not big on the mouthwash thing. So all right I'm not the best person for that. And is it the tongue scraping, the brushing and the flossing and then eating whole foods? That is very important. And nasal hygiene, because that's how your lips together and lips together means that you're maintaining better microflora microbiome, which is really important for the rest of you know, that's really what that essentially is reduced by keeping the microbiome balanced, reducing the extra acidity.

That makes the teeth vulnerable. And so what you eat and how often you're removing the plaque, that's what's important. So yeah, and it's. Amazing to me how everything always comes around full circle. Because, you know, we talk about the importance of a whole food diet and importance of a lot of these things with other professionals. And yet, you know, here are the two of you are saying the exact same thing. So how does collaboration with other health care professionals really enhance the outcomes for children with pens and pandas?

And I think it's everything, right? If we're we're forgetting a proper story about the child and what they've been through, what they're going through, what medications they're taking, it allows us to then tailor whatever treatments that we need to, whatever treatments we need to do, whatever we need to be able to serve that child. And then we get a better and better understanding of what they're going through, I think. Yeah, I think collaboration. So it's just extremely important. And I get. But from my perspective, collaborating with people like you, you know, so that's not being lost in the shuffle because I'm not going to think about absolutely everything.

And yet when I hear that the child is a mouth breather, I'm like, I got to go to Linda and Crystal. Right, right. And we can quarterback. And it's the timing of things. So it's not so overwhelming for the parent or the child. Like that. You got to also remember the whole the child versus the teeth. Right. And so being able to collaborate with the provider, we can start figuring out when they should go either there or somewhere else or to us and, and at what point in time. And yeah, it just, it just makes makes for a better outcome for a child because sometimes you're giving them all the medication that you think they need.

Meanwhile the mouth is open the whole time they eating well, the brain is not even thinking, oh, I gotta make this medicine work. And they do it more and more and more. Meanwhile, you have to get a basic foundation for them. So they've been nervous. System will be in a more where they can transition from sympathetic to parasympathetic a lot easier. And that's the goal. So it's of come you need the parents sympathetic but you need you don't want to be in it all the time. And that's what a lot of these kids are in all the time.

And that makes healing a lot more difficult. Yeah. We're not opposed to medications or modern medicine, I think. I think modern medicine is collaboration. You know, I think modern medicine means using less medication and using finding ways for the body to be able to receive whatever medication is supposed to at the time that it's supposed to receive it, and then work effectively. So that's how we look at it. So work for us. We're trying to create, like I said, that foundation. So that a child can be able to receive whatever they're meant to receive from their other providers.

Right, right. But if I'm talking to like, Doctor Scott Antoine about the brain danger response, or I'm talking to one of the other providers about this fight, fight or flight, fight light or freeze. You know, if we're not thinking about the nose, as you said, and the mouth, we're missing a whole piece of what may be causing those very behaviors that very, you know, danger. Danger from the brain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Exactly. And that tongue, good tongue function is what helps the brain be able to have a better lymphatics, because the brain, the posterior portion of the tongue, is really very connected to the ssbs.

And it's going to be able to synthesis. And that's sitting up right on the pituitary gland. As a matter of fact, when you don't have good function, then the whole mid-face doesn't grow as well. And there's a whole list of hormones that don't get to function properly because you don't have good mid-face growth to be able to affect where the brain is able to have that motion. So the pituitary gland can function properly. Well. And I just want to go back to, to something else for one minute. The parents always ask me about, you know, even with laser assisted for connectome, you know, repairing the the tongue ties in that way are the exercises the, the therapies post the procedure important to only. Yes.

Oh yeah. So it's that. That that's one that gets me every time. So so talk about that. Surgery surgery surgery. Right. You can cut you can cut muscle. You can cut everything.

Collaboration, Functional Therapy, and Hope 37:30

But if you don't rehabilitate something that was already dysfunctional to start with, before and after that, you're not going to get the best outcomes. That's just that. And I think is seen in physical therapy for other types of surgeries. That's seen is seen all over the place. And I don't and I don't think the the tongue especially should be any different. Seeing that it's 16 muscles 11 cranial 7 to 11 cranial nerves pass through it like that's that's huge. Let's say that again. They think tongue in the tongue has 16 at like eight pairs of muscles.

And it's got about seven cranial nerves, cranial nerves that pass through it that it affects. Right. Or that affect it then. And it's connected to the tip of the toes the body fascia. So something happening in your knee could be affecting your shoulder. Could be affecting the diaphragm affected by your tongue. So if you don't get proper education of that tongue that wasn't functioning, that's just looking at you like, yes, I'm tired, but I also need love before you cut me. You know, if you don't get that, then you're not going to have the best outcome no matter what tool you use.

I think and there's been studies upon studies, but just no matter what tool you use, you're not going to get great outcomes. I think in fact, I'm an exam. I'm an example. I we learn did we learn, you know, the release. And I was like, I'm tired, I know I'm tired. Please cut me to the like. Are you sure you positive? I'm just like, yeah. And not the greatest idea. Not. But it's not that that the surgery went fine. I'm fine. However, I know that I didn't. And you know, I did buy a functional therapy after Ryan.

The more I knew, the more I learned. I studied it myself. I started doing it after. Then I saw that the the results that. But I knew at that time period what I got it done. I was like, well, we didn't do it. We didn't, I didn't get much out of this, you know, and it's like surgery. So I, I learned my lesson. And so I'm a huge, huge proponent of it. It just means take your time with it. Take your time. We use the laser energy. Get your body ready for it. You have your body has to be ready for surgery in January.

Yeah. That's yeah. So important. And yeah so much of what we're talking about you know it's it's it's getting our bodies ready. It's being in the right space. It's taking the right step. And it's also collaboration. Collaboration within our bodies, collaboration of us as health care providers. Yeah. So for that time again, sometimes you have to see even as an adult, you have to see if they have like internet things connected. So they have to exercise other things to remove, maybe to help with the tension that you are having underneath that tongue to really see the restriction versus cutting blindly.

Yeah. So and for the infants, because I think the other, the other controversy is that you have to get them now so they can eat and feed. It's like no, a child can feed through a straw, a child can be through a cup any other way you can feed that you want. You rather have the child ready for surgery of that magnitude, which is very important when they're infants. Then then just rush it. You really just have to get all the players involved before absence. Makes so much sense. And so the baby's first instinct is to go to the breast.

So once you're able to rehabilitate them. So then they are nervous system and has that ability to say, hey, go to the breast, then you're much better off. Then just quickly going to cut. And it's still more confuse and makes it harder for the baby to get back on the breast. Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Yeah, I think there's a gap in the brain for the like. Yeah. And the brain does the leg gaps. And that's another thing that we also want to address is the primitive reflexes that are maintained. Because a lot of those kids have been paying the Sanders maybe kids, they have a lot of retained primitive reflexes that sometimes then that hasn't been identified as work could be impeding their healing as well.

So not treated per se, but we recognize it and we look for people who do treat them and refer them to them. Got it. And what about some of the more what we would call innovative tools like ozone or a facial myo functional therapy growth appliances. Talk about those. So that ozone therapy is so, so there's so much healing. So but I don't even understand it as well as I need to. So that's something that an area that we're studying more to know about. But we've used it on ourselves and we're going way to.

How did that just work and what made it work. And so I had we haven't understood it as well as we understand lasers yet, but that's something that we know that is useful and has the use for different things. I've been TMB pain for medicine has been used a lot. Right. So for dentistry now they're starting to use that more that guided biofilm therapy and doing the cleanings or having the ozone water is just nicer to have it through the office through the the delivery systems. And that helps it because now you know that you're doing much better work because the water is clear, it's cleaner and it's more healing as well.

So it's just like souped up oxygenated water. Very right. I mean, we know about the ones that are very active and they're adequate oxygen. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. The chamber the chamber like. That. Hyperbaric. Yeah I that yes. So we know that oxygen is like its own super power. And being able to oxygenate water using or oxygenate other things, using ozone gas things like that. It finds the back, it finds the bad bacteria for your body like it's only what your body needs. And so it'll find the things that you're that doesn't work with your body.

And it eliminates that so far. Yeah. So that's what we've seen. That's what we've studied we use on ourselves. And so we know now for our patients that is going to be amazing. As we add in even with the laser, it's just like more adjunctive services to then help clear out the bacteria that doesn't belong, because it might as bad bacteria, but the ones that are causing the disruption in the body. Yeah. Right. Right. And provide the oxygen to decrease the inflammation. Formation if that. Yeah, that. Yeah.

So that that's been amazing. Yes. And then the other some of the other tools they have is still the alpha pliers. And so the alpha appliance is a chrono friendly appliance. And so some people will want to do what's called rapid paddle expansion. Again it's not necessarily what the body needs. But again you're trying to get motion. And so the alpha appliance helps the body because it's such a it's a very tiny appliance which sits right around here. But in case the brain feel like the tongue is up so that and again, you need that tongue motion.

So when the body feels like the tongue is up, all this cranial bones are able to just have more motion in them. And so if they have more motion then it's able to attract the tongue up. And so you actually create the room that you need for yourself. So it's not necessarily about how wide it is, it's how functional it is which is why. And before and you know this I did the rapid paddle expanders anyway. But that's assuming that everybody's symmetrical and we're not symmetrical and we don't all need that with as well.

And then that's what it is with the diamond shape. And so my functional appliance okay. As is like training the muscles. And you remember when we talked about lips seal is very soft and has and maybe you have one in that if very soft I mean almost like silicone projections on it that makes it feel really good. It's like proprioception for the body. And so suction, even babies that feel that it helps them to have a parent just put it in and keep their lips together on it, slowly touching the brain, making that connection.

Your lips are supposed to be together, and it also helps to regulate your forward as well. So the most of what we're doing is trying to get nature to just show up, because we all have what we need. Inside of us is I'm looking for what obstacles do we need to move away so that the body can actually heal? Right? Because our bodies are such wonderful machines. We've just with all of our toxins and with all of our processed foods and with all of our stress. Yeah, living in this world, we've forgotten to to allow our bodies to do the healing, the breathing.

You know, that they need to do that. And even our aligner therapy, it's similar to the Alf. It's got some projections on the lingual portion, on the tongue portion. So that attracts the tongue to then be super powered, especially in the aligner. And then this will be a Maya functional device for them to chew on or bite to, then fully help that even help the jaws grow the way they should grow even faster. Yeah. So when they're done with the recall, like an initial phase one where we're getting the the fight or flight, everything just relaxed, right?

Get them into parasympathetic, then you're able to then straighten teeth the way you should versus with force. Right. That makes so much sense. And and I think you know, it's one of the things that I talk about a lot that, you know, I see me, for example, in what I do as our family's GPS, you know, and but they're still driving the car and in the same way, this is kind of similar in saying that, you know, we can't force something on families. They can't we can't force something on our children. But in the same way, our children's bodies need to be ready to accept these things that, that that may well be able to help them. So.

Fascinating. Yeah, yeah, it's it's simple, but also very technique sensitive. It's taken us we've like, gone to school all over again. Yeah. Imagine dental school. Medical school then. Now another round of that in the past few years. And then it's learning. It's continuous learning. Continue. That's right. So yeah. So we're not a bad thing. No no no it's not it. It allows us again to meet other professionals like you and be able to like, venture out into a different world and really help us understand how the body works, which is.

Yeah. And you've helped us, helped me understand. So many things that that just weren't intuitive to me that that I was never taught. And, you know, this this podcast is for parents and families, but also for professionals. And I hope the professionals that are out there listening will think about the interconnection of all of us and all the parts of our body. Yeah. So how do people find you guys? Well, our website is Kids smile.com.com. Okay I do the smile.com and we're on Instagram and Facebook and and our good old fashioned 07032384100I love it.

Yeah we're more of that. Yeah I hear you on that one. I mean I also have this saying why why people like me and That's great. Say the number one more time just in case people didn't hear it as I was laughing. (703) 723-8440. Thank you. And any last words of wisdom, of hope, of of anything we didn't talk about that you'd like to leave everybody with. Yeah, there's a lot there's on our lives nowadays. But there is always hope. We always have to keep hope alive. And it's important for parents to know that, yes, starting in infancy is great.

The sooner the better. But it's never too late. I have my seat back now and for after three years, so if it can happen for me, it can happen for anybody else as well. And so always trust the things that my instinct that tells you something is not right. Or they could be more and look for it and trust it and do the best you can until you know it there. Yeah. How do you do better go into my end, right? Yeah, exactly. There's such great words. Well, thank you both so much. Thank you for all that you do.

Thanks for sharing your wisdom with people today, and I look forward to seeing you both again soon. And that was good. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Thank you for tuning in to Doctor Talks. We hope today's episode has enlightened and inspired you on your path to optimal health. Each day is a new opportunity to make choices that empower your well-being. For more insights and strategies, subscribe to our podcast and visit our website w ww dot doctor Talksport.com. Stay connected, stay healthy and join us next time on Doctor Talks.

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