“Nothing is as important than taking the next breath,” said Dr. Roger Price, Director of Professional Services at the Graduate School for Behavioral Health Sciences during a recent continuing education course that Dr. Bell and two of our rockstar dental hygienists, Diana and Lou Ann, recently attended.

The course, which was sponsored by the San Antonio Academy of General Dentistry, focused on the importance of nasal breathing for the body to function effectively and covered the latest research on breathing from Dr. Price.

In Dr. Price’s words: “The medical model has failed and it is time for the dentists to take over. Sleep does NOT disorder breathing; it just makes already dysfunctional breathing worse.” Dr. Price coined the phrase, Breathing Disordered Sleep, which is the breathing that causes sleep issues (not sleep disordered breathing).

Our team learned how to screen for undiagnosed breathing disorders that are impacting your quality of life. We’re able to evaluate your breathing to see if there is an issue, and if one is detected we can help you to retrain yourself to breath effectively with Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy.

Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy

teaches a patient how to use the proper posture and function of the muscles of the face and mouth. Improper function of these muscles can negatively impact breathing, breastfeeding, proper growth and development of the face and jaws, chewing, swallowing, alignment of teeth, speech, bite, snoring, sleep, jaw joint movement and function, stability of orthodontic treatment, gum disease, and more. Who knew it was so important?! This therapy can be used for patients that have suffered a stroke, young children with jaw malformation, and also with kids who have ADD diagnosis.

Do you think you may have a breathing issue? Call us to schedule an appointment and our team can help!

Dr Bell is committed to always providing the best treatments available for all of his patients and has paid tuition for Lou Ann who is nearing completion of her Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy Certification.It will be so exciting for us to be able to offer these screenings and services in our office soon.