Facial characteristics of children who breathe through the mouth.

There are many claims that abnormal breathing patterns alter facial growth; however, there are limited controlled data to confirm these claims. Thirty children with allergy, aged 6 to 12 years, who had moderate-to-severe nasal mucosal edema on physical examination and who appeared to breathe predominantly through the mouth and 15 children without allergy who had normal findings from nasal examination and who appeared to breathe predominantly through the nose were evaluated. All subjects received an intraoral clinical examination and cephalometric radiograph analysis.

Mouth breathing in allergic children: its relationship to dentofacial development.

While there are many claims that abnormal breathing patterns alter facial growth, there are limited controlled data to confirm this. We evaluated forty-five North American Caucasians of both sexes, ranging in age from 6 to 12 years. Thirty chronically allergic mouth-breathing subjects were selected from a pediatric allergy practice, and fifteen nonallergic nose breathers were selected from a general pediatric practice.