Breathing through your mouth can dry out your gums and the tissue that lines your mouth. This can change the natural bacteria in your mouth, leading to gum disease or tooth decay. Over long periods of time, mouth breathing can also lead to physical changes in children, such as: An elongated face.
Open mouth breathing can cause significant oral health issues, including: Gum disease. Plaque accumulation. Tooth decay.
A solid routine will impact your facial structure
If you are a nose breather, the tongue creates a good definition of cheekbones and a wider face through force exerted against your jaw. Tongues of mouth breathers have nowhere to rest resulting in facial structure changes as time goes on.
As an adult, the growth and development has already happened but it's not too late–there are MANY health benefits to breathing through your nose instead of your mouth at any age!
Stop mouth breathing for your health
Children often suffer from crooked teeth, facial deformities, or poor growth due to the lack of oxygen that mouth breathers experience. Adults with chronic cases may develop bad breath and gum disease. It can also worsen their symptoms for illnesses such as asthma and diabetes.
Who's affected by mouth breathing? Mouth breathing affects adults and children. Healthcare providers estimate between 10% and 25% of children have mouth breathing.
Mouth breathing disrupts the exchange and decreases oxygen absorption. This can lead to over breathing because you need to breathe more frequently in order to replenish the oxygen that is being lost. Breathing through the nose also filters air and removes 98-99% of allergens, bacteria and viruses from the air.
Most people breathe through their noses, but some do so through their mouths. While both types of breathing succeed in getting oxygen to the lungs, nose breathing is more efficient and offers several health benefits.
In general, it's healthier to breathe through your nose instead of your mouth. That's because nose breathing is more natural and helps your body effectively use the air you inhale. Yet, it's estimated that about 30-50% adults breathe through their mouth, especially earlier in the day.
Breathing through your nose acts as a sort of natural medical device filtering toxins, humidifying nasal passages and enhancing circulation. The only time mouth breathing is necessary is during intense exercise or when your nasal passages are blocked (from congestion, cold or allergies).
Adults who breathe through the mouth often develop dry mouth, gum disease, and even tooth decay. So even when a serious condition doesn't cause chronic mouth breathing, it still may negatively affect oral health. Mouth breathing can lead to: Dry mouth.
Can you reverse mouth breathing effects? It depends on how severe your mouth breathing is, but most of the time you can still reverse its effects, especially when it's detected and corrected early, before the worst side effects have kicked in.
Facial structure: mouth-breathing can actually lead the bones of the face to develop differently, yielding flat features, drooping eyes, a narrow jaw and dental arch, and a small chin.
Many muscles and nerves around your jaw work together to open and close your mouth. Most people can open their mouth 35 to 55 millimeters (1.4 to 2.2 inches). This is about the width of 3 fingers (see Figure 2).
PROPER JAW POSTURE
The teeth should not touch ever – except when swallowing. This comes as a big surprise to most people. When not chewing or swallowing, the tip of the tongue should rest gently on the tip and back of the lower incisors.
When your mouth is at rest, your tongue should be against the roof of your mouth, but it should not be pressing against any of your teeth. Your teeth should be slightly apart, and your lips should be closed.
Proper breathing starts in the nose and then moves to the stomach as your diaphragm contracts, the belly expands and your lungs fill with air. "It is the most efficient way to breathe, as it pulls down on the lungs, creating negative pressure in the chest, resulting in air flowing into your lungs."
Sleep with Your Head Elevated
Aim for an elevation of 30 to 60 degrees. This should help to keep your mouth closed, making you breathe through your nose. Sleeping with your head elevated can also help to reduce snoring and improve sleep apnea.
Supernumerary nostril or accessory nostril is one of the rarest congenital nasal deformities with severe cosmetic ramifications. An extensive search of literature revealed 22 reported cases with an Indian predominance of 7 afflicted children (including the one described).
At any given time, people do about 75% of their breathing from one nostril and 25% from the other, said Dr. Michael Benninger, a head-and-neck doctor at the Cleveland Clinic. The dominant nostril switches throughout the day. This is called the nasal cycle.
Noisy breathing is typically caused by a partial blockage or narrowing at some point in the airways (respiratory tract). This can occur in the mouth or nose, in the throat, in the larynx (voice box), in the trachea (breathing tube), or further down into the lungs.
Literature also shows that children with breathing problems like snoring, mouth breathing, or apnea are 40–100 times more likely to develop behavioral problems resembling ADHD.
If you breathe through your mouth and breathe hard, there's less oxygen delivery to the cells.” This makes us more prone to high blood pressure, anxiety, stress, depression, sleep-disordered breathing, asthma and fatigue.
Mouth breathing through the night can lead to diminished sleep quality, snoring and elevated stress.