7 year old who snores and sleeps mouth wide open

[Tango]

My sister is worried about her daughter who had an oral surgery but still snores and sleeps wide mouth open.
She now wants to do a dental procedure.
What do you think?
What should her steps be?
Thx
Ps she is worried about anxiety and ADHD due to her sleep apnea.m

[Finnc]

What kinda dental procedure? I have heard of having your tonsils removed to help ADHD but didn't realize sleep Apnea could cause anexity and ADHD. My son has all three of the above.

[kaiasgram]

What kinda dental procedure? I have heard of having your tonsils removed to help ADHD but didn't realize sleep Apnea could cause anxiety and ADHD. My son has all three of the above.

All three -- you mean sleep apnea, anxiety and ADHD? From the research literature they do appear to be linked.

[Wulfman...]

My sister is worried about her daughter who had an oral surgery but still snores and sleeps wide mouth open.
She now wants to do a dental procedure.
What do you think?
What should her steps be?
Thx
Ps she is worried about anxiety and ADHD due to her sleep apnea.m

I think it sounds like they aren't looking in the WRONG place. If she can't breathe through her NOSE, she's going to have to breathe through her mouth.
Wouldn't it be more logical that they SHOULD be checking the nasal passages? Or, maybe there are mild allergies inhibiting nasal breathing.


Den

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[Finnc]

What kinda dental procedure? I have heard of having your tonsils removed to help ADHD but didn't realize sleep Apnea could cause anxiety and ADHD. My son has all three of the above.

All three -- you mean sleep apnea, anxiety and ADHD? From the research literature they do appear to be linked.

He has a diagnosed anxiety disorder, ADD, and now that I know more about sleep apnea I am pretty sure he has that as well.

[mrog]

My sister is worried about her daughter who had an oral surgery but still snores and sleeps wide mouth open.
She now wants to do a dental procedure.
What do you think?
What should her steps be?
Thx
Ps she is worried about anxiety and ADHD due to her sleep apnea.m

My daughter snored a lot when she was younger. We took her to an ENT, who removed her tonsils and adenoids. That cured her, but it didn't work right away. There was no improvement until about a month after the surgery when all the swelling finally subsided. She's been sleeping great for years now. Better sleep definitely helps her ability to focus. It's possible that your sister's daughter may not improve until a few weeks after her oral surgery. If in doubt, consult the child's doctor.

[archangle]

Removing bad tonsils or adenoids might be a good idea for some kids even without apnea.

Even for a kid, CPAP is probably THE answer for apnea, if "simple" tonsil and adenoid removal doesn't do the trick.

My feeling is that surgery should usually wait until the kid has reached adult size. She might grow out of it as her dimensions change.

By "dental work," do you mean a mouthguard type of thing? Probably reasonably harmless, but success rates are low. Also be careful about side effects like TMJ problems.

[RicaLynn]

How recent was the surgery? As mentioned before it can take several weeks for the affected tissues to normalize and any additional procedures should wait for reevaluation. I realize there are exceptions to every rule but I'm a little concerned that a 7yo went under the knife for sleep issues (or am I misunderstanding?) My primary concern would be treating the anxiety and ADHD, with medication and/or therapy.

[49er]

My sister is worried about her daughter who had an oral surgery but still snores and sleeps wide mouth open.
She now wants to do a dental procedure.
What do you think?
What should her steps be?
Thx
Ps she is worried about anxiety and ADHD due to her sleep apnea.m

I think it sounds like they aren't looking in the WRONG place. If she can't breathe through her NOSE, she's going to have to breathe through her mouth.
Wouldn't it be more logical that they SHOULD be checking the nasal passages? Or, maybe there are mild allergies inhibiting nasal breathing.


Den

.

As an FYI, many kids diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety really have apnea. Dr. Park estimated the percentage around 35%.

Anyway, I agree with Den about optimizing nasal breathing. Furthermore, if the child is breathing thorough his mouth, it seems that sleep apnea may need to be screened for which would include the possibility of a cpap machine or having surgery to have tonsils and adenoids removed.

[Wulfman...]

My sister is worried about her daughter who had an oral surgery but still snores and sleeps wide mouth open.
She now wants to do a dental procedure.
What do you think?
What should her steps be?
Thx
Ps she is worried about anxiety and ADHD due to her sleep apnea.m

I think it sounds like they aren't looking in the WRONG place. If she can't breathe through her NOSE, she's going to have to breathe through her mouth.
Wouldn't it be more logical that they SHOULD be checking the nasal passages? Or, maybe there are mild allergies inhibiting nasal breathing.


Den

.

As an FYI, many kids diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety really have apnea. Dr. Park estimated the percentage around 35%.

Anyway, I agree with Den about optimizing nasal breathing. Furthermore, if the child is breathing thorough his mouth, it seems that sleep apnea may need to be screened for which would include the possibility of a cpap machine or having surgery to have tonsils and adenoids removed.

Now that you mention that, I remember hearing or reading it sometime around when I was starting on my "journey" into CPAP therapy. I can't remember where, who or how it was related to me at this point in time (it's been over 9 years ago), but you jogged my memory with that.


Den

EDIT: It might have even been on this forum, too. Go up to the Search line and put in "ADHD" and you'll see there are 41 pages of posts containing it. Go to the OLDEST post and read it. (and any of the others)

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[rob15594]

I had to have nasal polyps removed as a child , then started allergy shots. Made a huge difference.

[tan]

Sleep apnea can cause anxiety. I think it is obvious: after a bad night sleep, my heart races, my ability to focus is down, exercising is difficult, i easily become irritable. I dont need a research to establish a link between sleep apnea and anxiety. I know it from my experience