Really interesting article on mouth breathing and facial development

[KLJ07]

This is VERY interesting. My almost 6 year old is a mouth breather. I never really noticed it until we had taken to a specialist for some ongoing problems he's having and the first thing the doctor said when he walked in the room was "I took one look at him and noticed he is a mouth breather." I've asked my ds why he breathes through his mouth, and he always says it's really hard to breath through his nose.

[Dmpmercury]

There are other factors, which were identified by Weston A Price. Nutrition during pregnancy and early childhood can also have a big influence on palate size and development of the face, so it makes sense to me that a lack of essential nutrients like fats in infancy can contribute to lack of development of the nasal passages which can contribute to mouth breathing which can further exascerbate (sp?) the problem and make the face continue to develop abnormally.

Weston Price's advice on nutrition is pretty quacky. His 'research' is done very poorly. He made very simplistic observations during the worldwind tour he did. Anyone who uses him as an expert I don't trust.

[SaraElise]

eh, I don't buy it. I'm mouth breather and had misaligned teeth...but so did my mom, our faces and jaw are identical and she is not a mouth breather.

[mcpforever]

Originally Posted by SaraElise eh, I don't buy it. I'm mouth breather and had misaligned teeth...but so did my mom, our faces and jaw are identical and she is not a mouth breather.

The funny thing in my family is that my mother and I both have the "weak jaw" appearance with the exact same (crooked) tooth pattern. According to my orthodontist, my jaw was perfect-just set back furthur in my head. I also have always had a smallish mouth. I had such pretty baby teeth all straight with no gaps. Many children do have gaps between their baby teeth. Neither of us are mouth breathers.

My father, on the other hand, is a mouth breather and has a strong jaw with straight teeth as does my sister. And I know she was a mouth breather as a child. It drove me nuts when we went on trips and we had to share a bed!

So I take this with a shaker of salt. Especially when I take into account the whole correlation vs causation as a PP pointed out. It may be that mouth breathing is caused by facial structure that is also associated with crooked teeth rather than the reverse.