Is mouth breathing a "disease"? The harm is beyond imagination...

Are you

Pay attention to how you breathe

"Nose breathing" and "mouth breathing"

Or do you breathe through both your mouth and nose?

Some people will unconsciously open their mouths and breathe through their mouths when reading, sleeping, or playing with their phones. Although many people can breathe smoothly through their noses and mouths, breathing through the mouths for a long time may make us quietly "uglier" or even hurt our health!

Today we will study:

What is "mouth breathing"?

What effects will “mouth breathing” have on us?

How to correct mouth breathing?

Mouth breathing

Chen Jie from the Children's Medical Center affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine once published an article pointing out that when people are in a quiet state (such as sleeping), most of the air flow should be breathed through the nasal cavity.

If the respiratory airflow passes through the mouth and exceeds a certain proportion (generally around 25%~30%), it is mouth breathing, which is an abnormal breathing state; if the respiratory airflow all passes through the mouth, it is severe mouth breathing.

Mouth breathing can be divided into obstructive mouth breathing, habitual mouth breathing and anatomical mouth breathing :

1. Obstructive mouth breathing, usually caused by upper airway obstruction;

2. Habitual mouth breathing, no obstructive factors, but still mouth breathing;

3. Anatomical mouth breathing, manifested by abnormal tooth and jaw development, short upper lip or related defects.

The impact of mouth breathing

1. Impact on children

▲ Affects appearance

Breathing through the mouth for a long time may cause changes in facial appearance, which is generally called "adenoid facies".

Generally speaking, adenoids will shrink after children are 12 years old. If they breathe through their mouths for a long time, it will cause hypertrophy of the adenoids. The airflow impacting the hard palate will also cause the hard palate to deform and arch, which will affect the appearance over time and may eventually lead to malocclusion or even abnormal appearance.

A large number of clinical investigations and studies have found that many patients with malocclusion and facial deformity have a high probability of suffering from nasopharyngeal diseases and long-term mouth breathing when they were young.

▲ Affects sleep

Mouth breathing is a common manifestation of sleep disorders in children .

If the ventilation disorder is caused by obstruction of the nasal passage due to adenoids hypertrophy, tonsil hypertrophy, nasal diseases, etc., it may cause sleep apnea syndrome at night. If not intervened in time, the body will be in a state of chronic hypoxia for a long time.

Once a child is deprived of oxygen, it is easy for him to become mentally exhausted: in his studies, he suffers from inattention and memory loss; in his daily life, he is prone to daytime sleepiness and lack of energy to do anything. In severe cases, it may even cause endocrine and metabolic disorders and cardiovascular diseases.

2. Impact on Adults

Although tonsils and adenoids gradually shrink at the age of 10-12, habitual mouth breathing can also be very harmful to adults.

• Snoring during sleep, and in severe cases, apnea may occur;

• Morning headaches, daytime sleepiness, and greatly reduced efficiency in study, work, and life;

• The dental arch changes and chewing function decreases;

• The lips, oral mucosa, and pharynx lose water and dry out, causing the respiratory secretions to become thick and difficult to cough out, repeatedly irritating the lower respiratory tract and easily causing tracheitis;

• Changes in the internal environment of the mouth and nose weaken the body's resistance to resident pathogens, which can easily induce oral and respiratory diseases.

How to correct mouth breathing

1. Check in time

Whether it is a child or an adult, if you find that they sleep with their mouth open or breathe through their mouth, you need to go to the ENT department for treatment in time.

2. Do closed-mouth exercises frequently

If the child is young and has "mouth breathing", and the facial and oral deformities are not serious, in addition to avoiding mouth breathing, you can also do upper and lower lip and cheek muscle training every day. That is, use the upper and lower lips to clamp a piece of cardboard and pull it out quickly and repeatedly for training, three times a day, each time for about 5 minutes.

You can also let your child practice closed-mouth breathing by whistling, blowing a trumpet, blowing bubbles, etc.

3. Keep your mouth closed when exercising

When doing exercises such as running and skipping rope, many people will subconsciously open their mouths to breathe due to the increase in oxygen demand. Try to breathe evenly and rhythmically through your nose.

4. Are the “mouth breathing correctors” on the Internet useful?

The principle of the mouth breathing corrector is to force the mouth to close tightly, so that the patient can only breathe through the nose. It is suitable for improving habitual mouth breathing without nasal diseases or the primary diseases have been cured . If the patient has pathological mouth breathing such as nasal obstruction, using a corrective respirator can only aggravate hypoxia, delay the disease, and even accelerate the occurrence of complications, resulting in serious consequences .

Therefore, if you find yourself breathing through the mouth, be sure to go to a regular hospital for treatment in time.