Craniofacial Orthopedics in Reston, VA

Treatments for Snoring and Sleep Apnea

Craniofacial Orthopedics and Orthodontics are effective solutions for modifying your airway and treating sleep apnea by changing the shape, size and relationship of the bones in the jaw and face and creating enough space in your mouth for your tongue to relax naturally during sleep.

Evaluation of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Clinical exams are performed for the evaluation of sleep apnea. These exams consists of head posture, facial examination, nasal examination (external and internal), oral examination and tongue examination.

Symptoms of Sleep Apnea

In America, 70% of adults report that they obtain insufficient sleep at least one night a month, and 11% report insufficient sleep every night. Some factors causing disruptive sleep include:

• snoring
• sleep apnea
• compromised airway
• improper craniofacial growth
• malocculsion (when the upper teeth and lower teeth do not meet in an optimal way)
• TMJ & TMD

Other Associations of Sleep Apnea In Children

Other associations of sleep apnea in children include:

• ADD
• ADHD
• bed-wetting
• failure to thrive
• memory
• behavior
• lower IQ scores
• colic
• night terrors
• thumb-sucking
• grinding

Craniofacial Orthopedics To Assist In Pediatric Sleep Apnea Management

Craniofacial orthopedics involves the guidance of facial growth and development, jaw positioning, and airway modification. When your jaw does not grow in an optimal proportion with the rest of the face, the imbalance affects the proper alignment of the lower teeth with the upper teeth and can negatively affect the way you sleep, smile, chew, speak and feel about your smile. And a bad bite can lead to bigger problems later in life.

Early intervention with Craniofacial orthopedics leads to improved treatment outcomes in facial harmony, airway openness and coordination of the bite by changing the shape, size and relationship of the bones in the jaw and face. Dr. Calkins has extensive knowledge of craniofacial growth—essential to successful treatment.

Craniofacial orthopedics treatment occurs in two phases. In phase one, treatment begins before all the adult teeth have erupted. During this phase, Dr. Calkins utilizes treatments designs to correct your child’s jaw growth in order to align the jaw bone properly. Once this is done, phase two can begin.

Phase two usually involves orthodontics to straighten the teeth.

Dr. Calkins is one of a limited number of dentist who are experience in the use of MRI imaging. Unlike x-rays, an MRI is radiation free and provides images of the bones AND surrounding soft tissue for a more precise diagnosis concerning proportional growth of bones and muscles.

Craniofacial orthopedics can also assist in pediatric sleep apnea management.