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Hours
Mon: 8am- 4pm
Tue: 8am- 4pm
Wed: 8am- 4pm
Thu: 8am- 4pm
Closed: Fri - Sun
Pediatric airway dentistry is a branch of pediatric dentistry focused on diagnosing and treating airway issues in children that can negatively impact their growth, development, and overall health. Expert practitioners like Dr. Angie Sage at Alamo Heights Pediatric Dentistry use a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to address these issues. With her deep understanding of the complex relationship between oral health, facial development, and airway function, Dr. Sage ensures your child’s growth, comfort, and long-term wellness are supported every step of the way.
Fun Fact: Did you know that you should have spacing between each of your baby teeth to accommodate the larger adult teeth coming in later? Ideally, we should be able to fit a nickel between each tooth to ensure there’s enough room for all adult teeth in the future!
Airway issues in children can lead to a host of problems, including poor sleep, behavioral issues, learning difficulties, and even delayed growth development. Pediatric airway dentistry is designed to identify and address these issues early on, promoting healthy growth and development while preventing potential complications. By opting for pediatric airway dentistry, you’re not just investing in your child’s oral health—you’re supporting their overall well-being, academic success, and future quality of life. We believe in being proactive and not reactive!
Pediatric airway issues can often be mistaken for ADHD due to similar symptoms like restlessness, difficulty concentrating, and hyperactivity!
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See real patient success stories.
Proper sleep is essential for your child’s brain development, growth, and emotional regulation. When a child is growing with narrow facial anatomy, has soft tissue obstructions, or tethered oral tissues, this can impact how your child breathes and consequently how they sleep. By ensuring their airways remain unobstructed during sleep, Pediatric Airway Dentistry can help your child achieve restful, uninterrupted sleep—leading to improved mood, better focus in school, and overall healthier development. Pediatric Airway Dentistry looks at the full picture - we assess the skeletal anatomy, soft tissue obstructions, oral motor function and tethered oral tissues that may be affecting your child’s quality of sleep.
Airway problems can interfere with your child's proper facial development, leading to issues like narrow jaws, dental crowding, and altered facial structure. Pediatric airway dentistry focuses on guiding facial growth, encouraging proper development of the dental arches, and supporting balanced, healthy facial structure. By promoting nasal breathing and ideal oral posture, Dr. Sage helps your child achieve harmony in both function and appearance.
By addressing airway issues early on, pediatric airway dentistry can help address a variety of potential health problems such as poor sleep, bedwetting, and chronic mouth breathing. Early intervention significantly reduces the risk of these conditions, ensuring your child's long-term health, emotional stability, and well-being—so they can truly thrive.
The first step involves a thorough evaluation of your child's oral and facial structure, breathing concerns, speech concerns, and sleep patterns. Using advanced imaging like Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT), Dr. Sage and her team can visualize soft tissues such as tonsils, adenoids, and sinuses with remarkable precision. This powerful diagnostic tool provides valuable insight into how your child is growing and developing, helping Dr. Sage build a complete picture of their airway health and set the foundation for effective, individualized treatment. It also allows Dr. Sage to make the appropriate referrals to other providers, such as an ENT,when indicated. During this evaluation, we also determine if further collaboration with SLPs, Occupational Therapists, Allergists, and ENTs among others, is warranted.
Based on the evaluation results, Dr. Angie Sage develops a customized treatment plan tailored to your child's specific needs. This may include growth guidance orthodontics, myofunctional therapy, or addressing tethered oral tissues (tongue-tie or lip-tie)—depending on the root cause and severity of the airway issue. Every plan includes detailed education and family guidance so parents understand each phase of treatment and feel confident supporting their child’s progress at home.
The final step involves ongoing monitoring of your child's progress and making necessary adjustments to the treatment plan. This ensures the treatment is effective and your child's development is on the right track. Regular follow-up appointments will be scheduled to assess changes and celebrate improvements.
CBCT is one of the most valuable tools in airway dentistry. It provides a detailed 3D view of your child’s airway, tonsils, adenoids, and bone structure—helping us create the most effective treatment plan possible. It is a valuable tool we can use in age appropriate children that allows us to visualize soft and hard tissues and allows collaboration with other providers.
Evaluations can start as early as infancy, especially if there are feeding or sleep difficulties. Early detection ensures your child grows and breathes properly from the start.
Common signs include snoring, mouth breathing, restless sleep, dark circles under the eyes, bedwetting, or difficulty focusing during the day.
Orthodontic treatment is more than just straightening teeth—it’s about creating a stable, functional, and healthy oral environment. After growth guidance or expansion therapy, maintaining nasal hygiene and encouraging proper nasal breathing are vital for long-term success. Chronic mouth breathing can lead to relapse, altered facial growth, and even compromised airway function. By focusing on nasal breathing, we support better oxygenation, balanced facial growth, and improved oral posture.
Myofunctional therapy plays a key role in this process. It retrains the muscles of the tongue, lips, and face to promote healthy breathing, proper swallowing, and correct tongue placement. When paired with consistent nasal breathing habits, myofunctional therapy helps solidify the improvements gained through orthodontic or airway treatment—resulting in a more stable bite, enhanced sleep quality, and lifelong wellness.
