When most people think of snoring and sleep related problems, they don’t think about discussing it with their dentist. Our dentists have received hundreds of hours of special training to address breathing, speaking and swallowing problems. Dr. John Walsh is a certified Oral Systemic Balance Practitioner trained to assist patients with the management of symptoms associated with jaw joint problems, snoring and other conditions.

Patients can experience difficulty breathing, speaking, swallowing or sleeping due to a number of factors. They may include inadequate muscle tone or reflex mechanism of the tongue, a narrow or broad mouth, the loss or crowding of teeth, or bulky dentures and other dental prosthetics.

When theses situations occur, the tongue can obstruct the airflow in the throat, diminishing the ease of breathing. Many symptoms in the body attempt to compensate to keep the throat open. This can result in headaches, jaw pain, sleeping problems, back and neck pain and stress-like feelings.

Oral Systemic Balance Therapy includes a comprehensive dental examination combined with a thorough evaluation of the patients chief complaints and health concerns, full mouth and cephalometric dental imaging, a highly specialized interview process, heart rate variability testing, pulse oximetry, postural analysis and diagnostic dental casts.

Oral appliances are then designed to help the throat muscles relax, open the passageway to allow deeper breathing and provide ease in swallowing. This helps the autonomic nervous system regulate critical body functions such as heart rate, body temperature, digestion and more. Chronic pain can be eliminated and restful sleep regained as effortless breathing is restored.