For far too long medical and dental were separate disciplines of learning about the function/dysfunction of the human body, mind, and spirit. A theological viewpoint would give thought to what God had in mind when He made the decision to introduce two gardeners to tend His farm while He was working on other things. We have some obvious clues found in His Diary. The first mistake “doctors” made was to separate the mouth (dentistry) from the body (medical) and the second, although well intentioned was to specialize in each part of the body to discover its vital role in life, further isolating all the parts from the whole. We had Humpty Dumpty broken down into a million well-studied pieces, but the right hand wouldn’t know the left hand until the medical doctors and dental doctors put the entire head back on the body and began to realize that everything works together either helping or harming “dem bones to walk around” because “the toe bone connected to ……… the head bone”.(Ezekiel 37: Dry bones spiritual hymn)
Now flash back to our two gardeners; they learned a fundamental truth- they were alive because they breathed, ate and drank. They might make it 40 days without food, maybe a week without water, but wow! only two minutes without air. This is ancient history and” the facts of life” have never changed but recently seem to have been rediscovered in a “NewAgeAwakening”. Look in God’s diary and you will read where God formed man from the dust of the ground,(much like you would find the cremated remains in the funeral urn) and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. Notice the word nostrils are for breathing not mouth.Doctors of all kinds have been letting the only animal on earth that breathes through its mouth get away with it. Watch every newborn sleep, all breathing through their nose, in fact, they couldn’t nurse (remember food and drink) if they did not breathe through their nose. Try eating, drinking swallowing and breathing through your mouth all at the same time and see how you do.
Unfortunately, in our “civilized” world, inflammation on the body begins early, even baby foods are suspect for contamination. Mouth breathing making everything worse by causing inflammation and obstruction in the nostrils making it more difficult to breathe correctly which means that lower levels of oxygen are being transferred to the hungry, thirsty brain cells struggling to get nourishment as well as every other cell in the body. Mouth breathing causes Oxygen deprivation will cause a host of problems that begin showing up early in life and late in life. Your child or elderly parent may not be thriving mentally and physically because he/she is not breathing properly.The entire delicate chemical balance of the body (pH) is adversely affected bringing on a cascade of unintended consequences to health.
What you don’t know can hurt you! This information is what you need to learn if you care about your health and that of your loved ones. There is plenty of breathing information on YouTube, good books to read, lectures to attend and knowledgeable doctors that will help you better understand why healthy living depends on nasal breathing.
Breathing disorders are a main contributing factor for malocclusion and orthodontic evaluations have always been a key screening tool that can change the course of breathing malfunction that begins with the two structures responsible for health – the nose and mouth. Call us for a courtesy evaluation and education on quality of life.
John B. Harrison DDS, MSc (727) 822-3156