Jj is for Jottings 143.  Mouth Breathing.

Mouth breathing – breathing through the mouth instead of through the nose – seems like a harmless enough sort of habit.  But its effects turn out to be quite far-reaching.  I referred to mouth breathing as a potential side effect of tongue tie, but that is only a tiny piece of the puzzle.  I’m talking here of chronic mouth breathing, not the times when we all breathe through our mouth. This might include when exercising or when our nose is blocked.  A blocked nose could be permanent, such as a nasal obstruction like a polyp or a deviated septum.  Or the nasal obstruction could be temporary, such as when we have a cold.

WE ARE DESIGNED TO BREATHE THROUGH OUR NOSE.

On average, we breathe about 20,000 times a day.  (The figures varied enormously, but we’ll go with this middle of the road figure.)    Since we are designed to breathe through the nose, that’s 20,000 times a day we can breathe in a less than optimal way!

Generally speaking, breathing through your nose can help filter out dust and allergens, boost your oxygen uptake, and humidify the air you breathe in. They sound like good reasons to breathe through your nose, but it is much more vital than that.  There are two main physiological aspects at play here: nitric oxide and oxygen/carbon dioxide balance.

Nitric Oxide.

Nitric oxide is produced in the nose and to an even greater extent, in the paranasal sinuses.  It plays a vital role throughout the entire body:

• As a vasodilator it relaxes blood vessels and therefore decreases blood pressure and improves blood flow to the organs.
• Has an anti-inflammatory action in the arteries.
• Prevents blood clots and obstructions in the arteries.
• Immune defence: it destroys viruses and parasitic organisms.
• Plays a role in respiration.
• Enables erectile function.
• Enhances memory and learning.
• Protects the skin from harmful ionising radiation.
• Regulates the secretion of digestive hormones and enzymes.
• Influences the secretion of hormones from several glands.
• Regulates bladder function.
• Controls the binding and release of oxygen to haemoglobin.

As a result of all this, there is a link between low nitric oxide levels and many diseases. A few of the diseases associated with low nitric oxide are: high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attack, stroke, digestive tract issues such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, erectile dysfunction, and bladder issues.

How To Increase Nitric Oxide.

Obviously low levels of nitric oxide are most undesirable, and three ways to increase nitric oxide levels are through eating food containing high levels of nitric oxide, exercising and ….wait for it…drumroll…BREATHING THROUGH YOUR NOSE.

The Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide Balance.

Very briefly, red blood cells release oxygen into the tissues and organs in the presence of carbon dioxide.  Breathing through our mouth can decrease carbon dioxide levels, resulting in less oxygen being released by the haemoglobin.  So, while we have a high blood oxygen level, the oxygen isn’t getting to our organs where it is needed.  It’s as if workday commuters are riding around in a train but not getting off at any stations to go to work.

THE EFFECTS OF MOUTH BREATHING.

Facial Changes.

When someone habitually breathes through their mouth, several facial changes take place.  When the mouth is open, it drops the chin down and back.  It acts like a weight hanging on the face and you have a complete downward pull of facial muscles and jaw joints.  Many mouth breathers also present with a low tongue level.  This means that the tongue is resting on the floor of the mouth instead of up in the roof of the mouth.  It is really important for the tongue to remain up at all times to support the upper jaw.  Without the tongue up in its proper resting place, there is an inward push of forces making the mouth narrow and the palate higher which restricts the airways.  Teeth placement in the jaw is also affected, and overcrowding of teeth is not uncommon.

Remember that the roof of the mouth is the floor of the nose.  In addition, there are noticeable changes to the eyes and contours of the face.  Because the nose is not utilised as it should be, it becomes underdeveloped.  The upper lip deteriorates and shortens, and the lower lip gets over-worked, becoming fat and floppy.  The overall effect is a long, narrow face with undershot lower jaw, short upper lip and flaccid lower lip.

60% of facial growth takes place during the first four years of life, and 90% takes place by the age of 12.  Development of the lower jaw continues until around age 18.

Other Effects.

Chronic mouth breathers also have extreme difficulty or are unable to:

• Humidify and filter the air they inhale.
• Produce nitric oxide, as detailed earlier.
• Regulate sleep patterns.
• Clear the inner auditory tubes from debris.
• Keep nasal passages clear.
• Smell effectively.
• Cool their pituitary gland to help regulate body temperature.

As a result of this, mouth breathing can also contribute to:

• Asthma.
• Gingivitis (inflammation of the gums).
• Bad breath.
• Tongue thrust.  For more on this see here.
• Headaches.
• Sore/dry throat.
• Aggravated sleep apnea and snoring.
• Upper respiratory tract infections.
• Recurrent ear infections.
• Bedwetting.
• ADHD.

That’s quite a catalogue of negative effects from habitual mouth breathing, and that is in addition to the facial changes and the effects from low nitric oxide!

CAUSES OF MOUTH BREATHING.

• Short upper lip (lips do not meet at rest). In “the old days” we called this “incompetent lips”, but I bet that isn’t politically correct now.
  If you have difficulty closing your lips or keeping them closed, you may have a short upper lip.  This is often brought on by a lip tie, thumb sucking, habitual mouth breathing, and or extended use of a dummy (pacifier) or bottle.  Note that a short upper lip can also be an effect of mouth breathing.  See the section on Facial changes above.
• Force of habit (previous case of nasal obstruction which is now corrected).
• Allergies (seasonal, animal related or food).
• Nasal congestion.
• Nasal polyps.
• Enlarged tonsils or adenoids
  If these are too large the tongue has no room and therefore must create space by opening the mouth.  A large proportion of mouth breathers I have seen have been due to enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids.

MOUTH BREATHING AND SPEECH.

There are speech problems which can result from the same causes as mouth breathing, and can also be an effect of mouth breathing.  These include the following.

1. Changed facial shape in general, and short upper lip in particular, can lead to a general reduction in clarity of speech.  And of course the more complex the sound sequences, the less intelligible speech can become.  It is amazing the degree to which a simple thing like not being able to close one’s lips can affect intelligibility.  The result is often that the upper teeth (rather than the upper lip) rest on the lower lip for /p,b,m/.  /p,b/ then become /f,v/, while /m/ just looks all wrong.  The same result can occur when a person has huge and/or protruding top front teeth.
2. Denasality can result from nasal congestion, nasal polyps, enlarged tonsils and/or adenoids.

TREATING MOUTH BREATHING.

The first thing to do is to eliminate any contributing factors, such as enlarged adenoids and/or tonsils, nasal polyps and allergies.  The person may need orthodontic treatment.  Then they need to address the issue of lip closure, stretching and retraining the upper lip.

To retrain the actual breathing,  Buteyko breathing is very effective, although I have had no first hand experience of it.  Since the muscles have evolved incorrectly over a long period of time as a result of mouth breathing, retraining the musculature and breathing habits will take time and persistence.

 

So it turns out that mouth breathing is a huge and complex issue with far-reaching effects, but it is something you rarely hear about.  As a result, we don’t give it anything like the attention it deserves.

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