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Most parents notice the snoring first. Or the open-mouth sleeping, the grinding you can hear from the hallway, the child who is exhausted at breakfast after ten hours in bed. These things are easy to brush off as “just how kids are.” Sometimes they are. But they can also be signs that your child isn’t breathing well, and the way the mouth and jaw are growing has a lot to do with that.
That is the question airway-focused dentistry looks at. At Maryland Holistic Dentistry, Dr. Gena Schultheis and our team check how your child breathes as part of their dental care at our Dunkirk, Annapolis, and Crownsville offices. Below are the signs we look for, what an airway evaluation involves, and when it makes sense to bring your child in.
A regular dental visit looks at teeth and gums. An airway-focused visit also looks at the structures around them: how wide the upper jaw is, where the tongue rests, whether the lips close comfortably, how the bite is developing, and whether your child breathes through the nose or the mouth. Those things are connected. A narrow palate leaves less room for the tongue. A tongue that sits low can push the jaw to grow down instead of forward. Mouth breathing changes how the face and teeth develop over time.
Children are still growing, so their jaws can still be guided. A problem that is easy to work with at age 6 can take much more to correct at 16. That is why we talk about airway in children’s dentistry and don’t wait until it shows up as sleep apnea in an adult.
Airway dentistry doesn’t replace your pediatrician, an ENT, or a sleep physician. Our job is to spot the dental and jaw-related signs early, treat what belongs in a dental office, and send your child to the right medical specialist when something needs a closer look.
No single sign means something is wrong. A pattern is worth a conversation. Here is what we ask parents about:
If several of these sound familiar, write them down before your child’s next visit. A short video of your child sleeping is one of the most useful things you can bring us.
An airway evaluation at Maryland Holistic Dentistry is gentle and doesn’t hurt. We explain each step to your child as we go. Here is what we look at:
You leave knowing what we found, what can wait, and what to do next, whether that is watching it, starting treatment with us, or seeing a medical specialist.
Treatment depends on what is behind the symptoms. Most plans combine more than one of these:
Myofunctional therapy is a series of simple exercises that retrain the muscles of the tongue, lips, and face. It helps your child rest the tongue on the roof of the mouth, keep the lips closed, and breathe through the nose. Kids do it at home a few minutes a day. It is often what makes the other treatments last.
A tight tongue or lip tie can keep the tongue from resting where it should, which affects palate growth and breathing. At our Crownsville Tongue-Tie Center, Dr. Schultheis releases ties with a soft-tissue laser. The laser is precise, there is usually little bleeding, and healing tends to be quicker than with traditional methods. We pair the release with exercises before and after, because releasing the tissue is only half of it. The tongue then has to learn its new range.
The American Association of Orthodontists recommends a first orthodontic check around age 7. At that age many children still have a mix of baby and adult teeth, and the jaws are still growing. With early orthodontics (Phase One treatment), we can widen a narrow upper jaw and guide growth, which makes more room for the tongue and can help nasal breathing. It can also mean less orthodontic work later.
Some problems belong to a physician. Very large tonsils and adenoids, ongoing allergies, or signs of sleep apnea such as breathing pauses mean we will refer your child to an ENT or a pediatric sleep physician, and we coordinate with them. When dental and medical care work from the same information, kids tend to get better faster.
A child’s upper jaw does much of its growing in the early school years. During that time, guiding it is gentle and works well. Once growth slows, the same narrow jaw or crowded bite often needs longer treatment. Poor sleep matters right now too. Children do much of their growing and healing during deep sleep, and a child who breathes poorly at night is often a tired child during the day.
This doesn’t mean every snoring child needs treatment. It means the signs are worth checking while there is still time to work with growth.
Airway problems often run in families, because jaw shape and tongue-tie tend to be inherited. Parents often recognize their own snoring, clenching, or morning headaches while we talk about their child. We see adults too. Our Annapolis Sleep Solutions office offers sleep apnea screening and oral appliance therapy as a CPAP alternative. In Dunkirk, Dr. Adam Taxin has advanced training in dental sleep medicine.
To learn more, read about our airway dentistry treatment, our children’s dentistry, and the benefits of a holistic pediatric dentist.
If your child snores, breathes through their mouth, grinds their teeth, or never seems rested, we’re happy to take a look. Call the office closest to you, or book online:
Bring your notes and that sleep video. We’ll go through them with you and explain what we see.
About the Author
Gena Schultheis, DDS
October 11, 2026
