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2023 Articles Gillespie Approach–Craniosacral Fascial Therapy Articles

Mouth Breathing and Orthodontics

Dr. Barry Gillespie May 3, 2023

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The orthodontic profession is showing an increasing interest in breathing and airway issues to prevent later conditions like sleep apnea. I believe that many of these children have undiagnosed and untreated birth trauma issues as the root of their problem. These traumas must be revisited and released in space and time for authentic healing.

An eight-month-old presents with mouth breathing and sinus congestion. One could distinctly hear her mouth breathing from across the room. She has a history of colic, croup, and was a neck archer. Oral ties were not a factor.

On the first visit, arching from the upper back and neck was straining into her throat. The tissues released nicely, opening her brain cycle to 50 seconds.

At the second visit, mom reported better breathing, and her noise was clinically less noticeable. I worked the fascia connecting the neck arch and the nasal sinuses. At the third visit, mom reported clear nasal breathing as I continued to work out the remaining strain.

The point of this essay is that fascial strain from the neck or structures below can pull into every cell of the cranium. Clinically, it can affect the eyes, sinuses, teeth, tongue, floor of the mouth, oral ties, and all the cranial structures.

Just because the nasal sinuses appear to be the problem does not mean they are its source. In Gillespie Approach philosophy, the cause or root of the condition may be coming from a restricted fascial web somewhere else in the body.

For this child, the web may have also been pulling into the airway space as part of her breathing condition. Left untreated, it can become part of an orthodontic problem later in life.

Orthodontists need to ask why the breathing problem exists. In my perfect world, the child would have been checked at birth and, later, if needed, had orthodontic work in conjunction with the Gillespie Approach.