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MELODY Yazdani couldn’t control her son.
Instead of outgrowing his tantrums, Kian’s seemed to be going from bad to worse, drawing the US mum into daily battles with the now eight year old.
“Every morning it’s tantrum after tantrum, before we even get out of bed,” Melody posted on Facebook.
“Hitting and throwing things and the screaming. All the screaming. Starting at 5am every morning.
“We were at a loss – ‘how did he become this way, what could we have done differently?'”
Melody didn’t see any correlation between her son’s dramatic behaviour and the persistent cough he had developed.
Now she wonders how she could have missed it.
Mouth breathing linked to facial deformities and behavioural issues
The Virginia mum was floored to discover that her son’s behaviour wasn’t ADHD, as his therapists had told them, but something she never expected.
The little boy was breathing through his mouth, a sign he was actually plagued by sleep apnoea and sinus problems.
The sleep disorders prevented him from falling into a deep sleep, which then understandably makes him tired and irritable during the day.
According to The Sun, if your child breaths through their mouth constantly it could be a cause for concern.
“Over time, breathing through the mouth instead of the nose can lead to abnormal facial growth and development,” doctors at the Premier Sleep Associates told The Sun.
“Long-term, chronic mouth-breathing in kids can cause an elongated face, misalignment or crowding of the teeth, tooth grinding and clenching, dental decay, gum disease, throat infections, poor sleep quality, stunted growth and development, behavioural problems, and even trouble in school.”
It happened to me too …
Ironically, while I never experienced the behavioural issues that Kian did, I had the “abnormal facial growth and development” mentioned in The Sun.
For two years, I experienced crippling pain on the sides of my face; it was only after visiting a host of doctors that I was diagnosed with sleep apnoea and a blocked nasal pbadage.
By that point, breathing exclusively through my mouth had caused my jaw, teeth and chin to be pushed forward.
My Ear Nose and Throat specialist (ENT), Dr Narinder Singh, didn’t know why nobody had noticed the damage the condition known as “adenoid facies” had been doing to my body for the past 23 years.
“These are all fairly extreme examples. More commonly, parents will notice an open mouth, crooked teeth/ white patches on the teeth from them drying out/ ground-down teeth and Panda eyes – dark circles under the eyes,” he tells Kidspot.
When he explained the cause of my symptoms it was like a light bulb went off.
“Every word sounded like Kian”
Melody experienced a similar moment when Kian was diagnosed with sleep apnoea and sinusitis.
“Every word sounded like Kian,” she said.
She was shocked to discover her little boy got “exactly 0 minutes of REM sleep during the first study, and oxygen saturation in the low 80 percent, and his sinuses were 90 percent blocked.”
Now he’s a new boy!
Thankfully, like me, Kian has rapidly improved since receiving treatment.
Melody reports that since the little boy’s tonsils and adenoids have been removed “they have seen a complete 180 in behaviour”.
“No more angry tantrums, no more fixations on little OCD things,” she explains.
“No behaviour reports in school. His appetite has exploded, he’s no longer a picky eater, and he had a huge growth spurt two weeks after the surgery.
“It’s been an enormous change.”
See a doctor if you’re concerned about your child
Dr Singh recommends parents keep an eye out for persistent mouth breathing and “request a referral to an ENT surgeon that specialises in blocked noses in children” if needed.
“The ENT specialist should ask the parents detailed questions then examine the child using a special camera in the nose which can be seen on a TV. This will show the cause of any blockage,” he said.
The commonest causes of blockage are:
- Big adenoids
- Big tonsils
- Big turbinates
- A deviated septum
- Hayfever (allergic rhinitis)
- Treatment, when required, includes removal of adenoids and tonsils, reduction of turbinates and treatment of allergy
According to Dr Singh – you need to look out for:
- Mouth-breathing
- Noisy breathing
- Poor-quality/ restless sleep
- Snoring
- Reduced oxygen intake
- Behaviour changes
- Problems with learning/ Problem-solving/ memory
- Sore throats
- Dark circles under the eyes
- White patches on the teeth (from drying out whilst mouth-breathing)
- Crooked teeth
- Teeth grinding and clenching at night
- Nosebleeds (from drying out of the nose lining due to turbulent air flow)
- “Nasal” voice
In severe cases, the blocked nose may lead to:
- Obstructive sleep apnoea
- Severely reduced oxygen intake
- Irritability/ inattention/ hyperactivity/ disruptive behaviour
- Significant problems with learning/ problem-solving/ memory
- Unhealthy gums
- Dry, cracked lips
- Sinus problems
- Bed-wetting
- Night sweats
This originally appeared on Kidspot and has been republished with permission.
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