Brooklyn Oak Dental Care

“Airway Dentistry” is a relatively new and growing field that focuses on the evaluation of craniofacial structures and their impact on one’s breathing. In this field, we are creating new collaborative care models that are making former care models obsolete by no longer chasing disease and dysfunction, but by implementing an etiological approach for creating and sustaining better health in one’s entire organism. Although “airway dentistry” seems to imply only the mouth, nose and jaws, it’s impact spans the entire patient’s being as breathing is our number one function. We cannot accomplish much with suboptimal breathing and will invariably struggle if the breath is suffering from a level of dysfunction. Signs of a compromised airway often manifest as broken teeth, worn down teeth, gingival recession, purple and swollen eyes, chronic rhinitis, open mouth posture, mouth breathing, chronic fatigue, snoring, night sweats, restless sleep, eczema, psoriasis and many other symptoms. Airway dentistry aims at optimizing the patient’s breathing in order to treat the entire patient beyond their mouth, although the mouth is where we begin. Breathing affects the entire being as it is biomechanical (tensegrity), biochemical (O2, CO2 and NO) and psychophysiological, and many patients with “airway” dental issues often present with symptoms like chronic anxiety, depression, insomnia, headaches, panic attacks, vertigo and even autoimmune diseases. Gently correcting craniofacial structural discrepancies can aid directly in improving one’s breathing which will almost invariably improve all of the body’s metabolic processes, helping alleviate structural pain and even inner ear equilibrium and gut issues in a collaborative approach. As Einstein said, if you only treat part of the system and leave the other structures alone, problems will arise; compensations will arise, which almost invariably lead to break down. Thus, the practice of “airway dentistry” reaches far beyond the airway to help create a healthy robust patient through a holistic and collaborative approach. Here at Brooklyn Oak Dental Care we provide a functional airway work-up, access to a home sleep study, the Day/Night Appliance (DNA), a CBCT scan with review of findings, the Myoaligner (dental orthotic), breathing reeducation, clear aligner therapy, orofacial myofunctional therapy and the Prosomnus sleep-breathing appliance.