History Stations
Joseph Manjaly, Peter Kullar, Alison Carter, Richard Fox in ENT OSCEs: A Guide to Passing the DO-HNS and MRCS (ENT) OSCE, 2019
Common causes include Medication side effects – any drug with effects on the autonomic nervous system can cause xerostomia. Antihypertensives and antidepressants are particularly well known in this regard.Mouth breathing – this may be due to nasal blockage, e.g. from adenoidal hypertrophy.Systemic disease – autoimmune disease such as Sjögren’s syndrome must be ruled out. Other systemic disease such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), diabetes and Parkinson’s disease can also cause dry mouth.Radiation therapy – the salivary glands, particularly the parotid glands, are often in the radiation field during treatment of head and neck cancer. A number of new developments including intensity-modulated radiotherapy have been developed to minimise collateral damage to healthy salivary tissue.Pseudoxerostomia – rarely as a manifestation of psychiatric disease.
Nose
A. Sahib El-Radhi in Paediatric Symptom and Sign Sorter, 2019
Nasal discharge and blockage are extremely common in children. By far the most common causes are viral infectious rhinitis, allergic rhinitis (more common in older children and adults; Figure 6.1) and adenoid hypertrophy. Breathing difficulty in neonates and young infants may be caused by nasal obstruction as a result of partial or complete choanal atresia. Although the vast majority of causes are benign and self-limiting, serious conditions include nasopharyngeal tumours, encephalocele and foreign body. In these conditions, discharge is usually purulent and foul smelling, with or without blood. Obstruction in the nasal passage normally causes mouth breathing. Exclusively oral breathing is rare or non-existent. It is rather a mixed nasal and mouth breathing. Prolonged mouth breathing may lead to disorder of speech, dental malocclusion and facial deformity (adenoid facies). Nasal discharge/blockage impacts negatively on a child's quality of life by interfering with sleep, daytime activities and school performance. Nasal discharge/blockage may also exert effects on the sinuses, throat and voice that manifest as impaired hearing, worsening asthma and problematic snoring.
Reduction in Orthopedic Conditions through Teledontic Treatment of Pharyngorofacial Disorders
Kohlstadt Ingrid, Cintron Kenneth in Metabolic Therapies in Orthopedics, Second Edition, 2018
Detailed analysis of clinical symptoms is the first step for the diagnosis of OSA in children. Even when the clinical symptoms of OSA are evident, the cause(s) of breathing problems often remain undiagnosed for a long time. The long delay in diagnosis is the result of patients seeking treatment only when the complications, such as acute cardiorespiratory failure, already are severe. 101 The type and the frequency of clinical symptoms in children are different than those in adults. Excessive daytime sleepiness is infrequent in children.101 There are three main nighttime symptoms of OSA in children and infants: snoring, difficulty in breathing with an inward movement of the upper part of the chest during inspiration, and apneas with noisy resumption of breathing.102 Mouth breathing is common during wakefulness.102 Drenching sweats, SB, restless sleep and frequent awakenings during the night are reported by parents. Nocturnal enuresis may be a symptom in older children.102 Acute upper airway infections are common in younger children.103 The severity of clinical symptoms increases during an infection and decreases with treatment.
EEG signals during mouth breathing in a working memory task
Published in International Journal of Neuroscience, 2020
Kyung-Jin Lee, Chan-A Park, Yeong-Bae Lee, Hang-Keun Kim, Chang-Ki Kang
In this study, however, we examined the short-term functional aspects of mouth breathing in healthy subjects. The different reactions of brain wave between type of breathings seem to be due to lack of oxygen. The measured SpO2 data were supporting the evidence that oxygen was not supplied sufficiently during mouth breathing. However, it did not prove that oxygen saturation was also inappropriate in cerebral blood vessels as well as peripheral blood vessels. In further study, it should be demonstrated that mouth breathing affects cerebral oxygen saturation in cerebral blood vessels through direct measurement. Furthermore, comparison of the nose breathing and mouth breathing inhaling high oxygen pressure air should be further evaluated to determine the appropriate factors, i.e. oxygen deficiency, regarding the breathing effect on brain function. At last, further research examining the effects of long-term mouth breathing on brain activity in behavioral mouth breathers as well as disordered sleep breathers are also needed.
Association between asthma and dental caries in US (United States) adult population
Published in Journal of Asthma, 2021
Parth D. Shah, Victor M. Badner, Deepa Rastogi, Kevin L. Moss
Similar to dental caries, asthma is also a highly prevalent chronic inflammatory disease in the US which afflicts the health and lifestyle of those who are affected (7). Asthma affects the immune system, and hence may cause a disturbance in oral microbiota. Combined with anti-asthmatic medications, which modulate airway and systemic immune responses, this condition may increase the risk of dental caries (8). Mouth breathing that may be more prevalent in asthmatic patients, particularly with co-existent allergic rhinitis, may lead to dehydration of the oral mucosa. As a result of mouth breathing, and the effects of anti-asthmatics and inhalation therapy, people with asthma are more likely to suffer from xerostomia (9), which may increase their susceptibility to dental caries (10). Because of the one or more of these plausible mechanisms, and perhaps due to any barriers in accessing oral healthcare, we hypothesize a connection between asthma and dental caries in adults living in the US.
Obstructive sleep apnea: personalizing CPAP alternative therapies to individual physiology
Published in Expert Review of Respiratory Medicine, 2022
Brandon Nokes, Jessica Cooper, Michelle Cao
The occluded nasopharynx has long been appreciated as a source of CPAP intolerance [37]. Nasal occlusion necessitates mouth breathing, leading to higher nasal CPAP pressures due to device-perceived leak, and thereby, greater patient discomfort [37]. Under normal circumstances, obligate nasal breathing is the rule during sleep and the evolution of nocturnal mouth breathing should prompt concern over compromised nasal patency [37]. Notably, increased nasal resistance is an independent risk factor for OSA development [38]. Additionally, mouth breathing has long been appreciated to make sleep-disordered breathing events more likely, potentially owing to decreases in the caliber of the retropalatal airspace [38,39]. Thus, OSA is more common in the presence of nasal allergies, a deviated nasal septum, prominent nasal valves, etc. [37].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Breathing
- Cheilitis
- Down Syndrome
- Nasal Polyp
- Orthodontics
- Rhinitis
- Obligate Nasal Breathing
- Biological Functions of Nitric Oxide
- Nasal Congestion
- Open Bite Malocclusion