Sleep is essential for both survival and the ability to thrive, yet as children’s schedules get busier and they spend more time in front of screens, their average sleep time often decreases. While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that kids between the ages of 6 and 12 get nine to 12 hours of sleep per night for optimal health, they’re regularly getting less, and about 15 to 25 percent of youngsters and adolescents have trouble falling and staying asleep. 

In a recent study published in The Lancet, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine found that children that get less than nine hours of sleep per night have notable differences in areas of the brain that influence memory, intelligence and well-being compared to those that slept more than nine hours. According to researchers, such insufficiencies in early adolescence can lead to long-lasting neurocognitive consequences.

Why Kids Aren’t Sleeping

Anna Esparham, M.D., FAAP, an integrative medical expert with the American Academy of Pediatrics, recommends that parents look for clues as to why their children can’t sleep, including stress, increased screen time and less physical activity. However, there may be other underlying issues.

A lesser-known culprit that may contribute to a child’s compromised sleep is impaired mouth syndrome (IMS), coined by dentist Felix Liao, a certified airway-centered mouth doctor and past-president of the International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine. “Most people, including many dentists, don’t realize the influence that the mouth has on the body,” he says. “The mouth is the portal to the inside. With impaired mouth syndrome, the child can still chew, smile and talk, but the body’s health can be compromised.” 

While birth trauma, concussion and viruses can precipitate mouth breathing, and chronic allergies often exacerbate matters, immature swallowing can set off a cascade of problems. The mouth is a critical infrastructure for proper breathing, circulation, digestion, energy and sleep. IMS occurs when jaw development is insufficient, thereby giving rise to numerous difficulties, such as a narrower airway, which can cause hypoxia, or low levels of oxygen. Liao notes that poor sleep quality can also lead to learning and behavioral problems. 

“Breastfeeding stimulates bone growth and jaw development through the tongue’s instinctive action and ideally enables a child to have a mature swallow by age 2,” says Amy Dayries-Ling, DMD, FAIHM, a national spokesperson for the American Dental Association. In her book, Solve Your Sleep: Get to the Core of Your Snore for Better Health, Dayries-Ling connects the dots between the vital role of the tongue during breastfeeding, balanced stimulation from the vagus nerve and beneficial spaces between milk teeth for a well-developed dental arch.

Correcting Structural Problems

From a holistic perspective, improperly working muscles of the tongue, throat and face or a compromised jawbone can foster a predisposition to a number of seemingly unrelated conditions, including dental problems, teeth grinding, asthma, bedwetting, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, poor growth, swollen tonsils and pediatric obstructive sleep apnea. Dayries-Ling recommends that parents seek out a myofunctional therapist that can help retrain muscles and free up the airway. Building an integrative team is vital, including a dentist trained to address structural issues.

“When we see children for their routine dental care, I also examine their bite to see if their faces are growing how they should,” says Dr. Norma Cortez, owner of Cape Fear Smiles, in Wilmington, North Carolina. “The parents answer a pediatric sleep questionnaire. If I suspect they may have issues with their airway or if they could have sleep disordered breathing, I invite them to have an airway consult where I can get more data and have more time to explain one-on-one what I find, how to address it and also which other healthcare provider they want to see as I believe in a multidisciplinary approach.”

She’s always on the lookout for potential warning signs like a “lack of primary spaces; baby teeth need to be spaced out and when the child bites down, both arches (upper and lower teeth) need to be visible also. I check for ankyloglossia (tongue-tie) as the tongue is the organ that grows the face forward.” 

Cortez recommends parents of a child with potential issues consult an airway-centered mouth doctor, citing “how important early intervention is. It’s gentler on a child and can set the child for success in regards of his/her craniofacial growth. Also, dentistry can influence the airway. A bigger airway is always better. The bigger the airway, the less chance a child and adult to have sleep disordered breathing or sleep apnea.” 

She suggests a multidisciplinary approach, possibly including a chiropractor, speech language pathologist, a myofunctional therapist, physical therapist, ENT (for tonsils and adenoids) or a sleep physician if sleep apnea is suspected, and other potential early orthodontic intervention measures.

Marlaina Donato is an author, painter and host of multimedia art exhibits intended for healing the community. Connect at WildflowerLady.com. Kirby Baldwin is an editor and writer for KnoWEwell, the Regenerative Whole Health Hub and parent company of Natural Awakenings Publishing Corp.