Don't forget about nutrition, though. As Weston A Price noted in his research, it takes animal-based, fat soluble vitamins to grow strong bones and good teeth. All the loading in the world won't help if the building blocks aren't there.
Even so, thank you for bringing this important information to everyone's attention. My (breastfeeding, 19mo) toddler is currently using her teeth to open things and I'm not stopping her. I did a lot with my teeth when I was younger, and all the adults who saw me yelled at me for it, but I did it anyway.
Just in case anyone here is blaming themselves for a thing that they didn’t actually have “control” over: genetics is huge here too. I have two kids who are genetically half siblings, and the kid with the parent who has the more crowded mouth has more crowded teeth, despite more breastfeeding and more chewy foods and all that. Other factors like tongue ties, nutrition, and allergies play their roles as well. All we can do is our best.
And yes, you're absolutely right about allergies and nutrition - they certainly also play a role. And we can only do our best.
But even in situations where it's not possible to completely prevent crooked teeth, there is stuff that, if we know it at the right time, we can do to reduce the severity. One of my children has cerebral palsy and limited oral function, so therefore doing as much as we can to drive jaw development reduces the effect of her neurological impairment.
When my eldest son was about 8 we had a physiotherapist speak at our breastfeeding mums group about oral development. He had always been a thumb sucker (from birth) and I asked her if that would be why his lower jaw was small. She suggested that it was the other way around - that he sucked his thumb to help him to nose breathe. She checked him over , and found that he wasn’t swallowing correctly-using all the wrong muscles. Because he had been breastfed for 18 months the muscles were well developed but he wasn’t using them right,(maybe he had too soft a diet?) and he mouth breathed if he didn’t have something in his mouth. She retrained him, but he ended up needing a twin block appliance to grow his jaw when he was prepubescent. So glad that he had that option rather than the more traditional approach of removing teeth, but it wish I’d known about hard foods. He’s now 33 and his jaw stayed in correct proportion with plenty of space for his teeth. The physiotherapist said that the best orthodontic tool was correct use of the oral muscles - that if that isn’t corrected then braces won’t do much good in the long term.
It makes sense that not using our jaws enough would lead to these sorts of problems
Fantastic - it's really good to hear about correction that doesn't require tooth extraction. There's been a lot of very negative press recently around this, because Mike Mew who championed a similar approach, was struck off the dental register.
Out of interest, what did the retraining involve before he had a twin block appliance? The usual myofunctional exercises or anything unusual?
It’s a long time ago now, but I remember he wasn’t using the muscles between the jaws when he swallowed - he was doing some weird thing with throwing his head back instead. He had to practice swallowing feeling those muscles to check that he was activating them. I remember he had to hold a button (on a string) between his lips when he was reading or watching tv to help him learn not to mouth breathe. There were other things too but I don’t remember them. It only took a few sessions - she said it would have been harder if he hadn’t been breastfed as the muscles were well developed from that, but he just wasn’t using them.
I felt so fortunate to find her, and to have her point me to the orthodontist who used the twin pack appliance. It only took 9 months, and while it was hard to wear D was very motivated as he understood what it was doing. My other two kids also had slightly underdeveloped lower jaws so they also had the appliance, but they weren’t so bad. I thought I gave them lots of real food, but it obviously wasn’t enough. D had asthma, and dust mite allergies, so maybe that was why he was worse.
I liked that the appliance also helped the back teeth to line up correctly, as it increased the space.
Such a great piece, filled with useful information that is very much outside of the common discourse. I wish I had known this when my child was born, almost as much as I wish my parents knew this when I was born.
I wonder what is your advice for mouth-breathers. I grew up with asthma and have always struggled with allergies, as a consequence my teeth are crowded and nasal breathing is not my default. I've used athletic tape to keep my mouth closed when I sleep, and even bought soft headwear that straps my chin closed. I always rip them off after about an hour because I can't sleep or breath. I practice breathwork daily, and even teach breathwork in school, but sleeping is another matter. I'm frustrated by the energy drain (perceived or real?) and would really like to fix this.
Ohhhh so much empathy. I was an allergic asthmatic kid and have the face to prove it. Multiple extractions, years of braces, and I still have incisors that I can't bite with. I have found that mouth tape works for me, but my partner, who has similar issues but different symptoms, has found that his sleep is much worse on his back (his tongue falls back into his airway). His solution is that he's created a device with shoulder straps and a particularly spiky piece of Duplo that sits between his shoulder blades to make back-sleeping almost impossible. He also uses a DIY mouth guard that pulls his lower jaw forward. He tried nose-opening tape but didn't find it worked for him. I guess there are so many solutions because none work for everyone...
I've often wondered if there is a correlation between mouth breathing and asthma; not in that people with asthma breath through there mouths because they are hungry for air, but that (perhaps) mouth-breathing weakens the muscles in the upper-respiratory tract that is normally strengthened through the compression of air by nasal breathing? I don't know if that makes sense, but nasal breathing feels fundamentally different to me, as though it reduces asthma flare-ups. Thoughts?
You need to see an airway dentist. They can make sure your nasal passages are wide enough for air flow, and ensure you don’t have a deviated septum (and refer to ENT for surgery if so).
Great point - and apologies, I must have missed this comment, Ryan. Alaina - thanks so much for picking this up!
As Alaina says - there are often underlying structural issues that can be corrected surgically. Additionally some of the tissues are load sensitive and will remodel to a certain extent (mucosa, and, to a certain extent, nasal bone).
Nasal breathing has higher resistance than mouth breathing deliberately (because it keeps the alveoli open for longer during exhalation, improving efficiency). Additionally, nasal breathing releases nitric oxide which improves blood flow in the alveoli to improve the efficiency of blood oxygenation.
The humidification and warming of the air also reduces bronchial reactivity, which reduces the risk of asthma attacks.
And improving the efficiency of oxygenation means that the number of breaths taken is less, which exposes the airways to less airflow, reducing drying and reactivity.
So true!! And this makes me think of the research done by Weston A Price in the 1920s showing how tribes around on their natural diets have amazing teeth but as soon as western diets of sugar and refined white flour are introduced, teeth quality and spacing go down! Shows how important nutrition and food fats are for getting the vit D and calcium to the bones and teeth to grow straight!
My kids all breastfed for over a year and don't have the worst western diet 😄, so I'm hoping this all works in their favour to have straight teeth! Just waiting on our cow, so hopefully one day we have raw milk! 😁
Absolutely - have you read the book Jaws by Kahn and Ehrlich? You probably have, but if you haven't, I think you'd enjoy it!
As a veterinarian, I was trained that raw milk was extremely dangerous, but the more I've read about microbes, the more my views have changed. Yes, it's crucial to avoid TB and brucellosis, but there are benefits of good microbes too, not just harms of the bad ones. I'm so envious that you're WAITING ON A COW!!!! SO cool.
Let me know what you think of it! I think the preventative stuff is great, but I'm not sure about the evidence on fixing the problem with devices once it's already occurred. You may have recently seen that the dentist Dr Mike Mew, who's heavily referenced in the book, was recently struck off because of a bad outcome with a patient. As with all of these diseases, it's much much easier to prevent them in the first place than to try to fix the problem when it's occurred...
Absolutely fascinating. I’m going to stop stopping my 18-month-old from tearing open oranges and bananas with her teeth! I did baby-led weaning with both of my exclusively breastfed kids, but my 3 year old has suddenly become quite picky and her lower teeth are super crowded (as are mine, so perhaps that’s just genetic). She does like to chew fried chicken skins and bacon fat, but otherwise her diet has become pretty soft.
Sounds like she’s been set up really well for good jaw growth and she’s using her teeth like a proper little primate! I love it!
Does she often breathe through her mouth? That can also affect lower jaw growth. I’ve linked another article which goes into this in a bit more detail in case it’s relevant. :)
She definitely mouth-breaths at night, and we currently live in Michigan where we unfortunately have stuffy noses for nearly half the year. Once our kids get a bit older, we’re hoping to spend a few of the winter months every year in Taiwan. We’re tired of the back-to-back illnesses!
They can learn to wash their noses out pretty quickly, and when they realise how much more comfortable they feel, they get pretty motivated. But summer is coming so colds will be fewer!
Mmm, not 100% sure here, my children breastfed for 2+ years, they eat lots of nuts and meat and raw fruit, they don’t mouth breathe. They still don’t have many gaps between their teeth though….
Interesting! Sounds like they have been well set up, so they are much more likely to avoid malocclusion. This paper has a good summary of what normal spaces and occlusion looks like in baby teeth - https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/11/2/201 , and also covers the association of jaw growth with the first solid foods that the baby is given.
I was aware of this, having had vampire teeth myself and a small jaw, and after the kids had tongue tie I started to learn more. Maybe the gaps will come as their jaw grows.
I wonder if there is a bit more to it though… it is without a doubt difficult to provide the right foods.
Yeah, their teeth may well space out as they grow. For our child who has oral movement problems, we use a hard chewing gum and that's seemed to help with jaw growth.
See my re-stack but many thanks for the answer to the mystery. I’m a strong believer in example leading to inspiration for others. Your beautifully written memoir pieces are invaluable - women naturally share through personal stories. Have you written a book with stories? When will you?
Thank you! You're absolutely right and I hadn't crystallised it in so many words - but I love listening to other women's stories.
My first book on this topic is with an agent and looking for a publisher - it's stories plus science. In the future, I'd love to write about the adventures we had spending 18 months with three small children in the rainforest! I look back on it and can't believe we managed it! It was such an incredible experience but with some enormous challenges along the way... Thank you for your encouragement, I really appreciate it. :)
I look forward to it - and would love to review when the time comes - you may be interested in this woman https://www.instagram.com/alegraally?igsh=MWs3czM3b3h6bGhuYg== Allegra Ally a visual ethnographer who I think has done similar to you living within another culture with her baby.
Amazing, I'll look her up! And thank you very much for the offer to review, I would love to take up that offer when I'm at a point to have it reviews. Thank you!
Brilliantly written, and brilliant information, thank you. Unfortunately far too late for me or my kids. But as a midwife, I can pass this on. Yet another great reason to breastfeed. Love the way you encourage this in a totally non-judgemental way including for those who can't. And did I say I love your writing? Mind. Officially. Blown.
Thank you so much! I'm really touched, appreciate it. I'm sure you think about this a lot - bringing up babies and children in such a tricky subject to talk about in a way that makes people feel curious and inspired rather than defensive and guilty.
Just a fun anecdote: sometime a few years ago, when my son was probably about three or four, I told him about harder foods being important for jaw health. Now age 8 he regularly requests old, hard bread as a snack, and reminds me that it is good for his jaw. There is still a lot of room for improvement where other hard foods are concerned, but it is amazing to see how small nudges can make a difference. So far, his adult teeth fit in, so I hope we may be on the right track. Might still look into that hard gum, though...
I love this! What a great way to set him up for good jaws! My partner is just the same, he loves stale bread and dries it in his cupboard! The gum is great - the falim and mastic ones aren't sweet, they're just chewy.
Don't forget about nutrition, though. As Weston A Price noted in his research, it takes animal-based, fat soluble vitamins to grow strong bones and good teeth. All the loading in the world won't help if the building blocks aren't there.
Even so, thank you for bringing this important information to everyone's attention. My (breastfeeding, 19mo) toddler is currently using her teeth to open things and I'm not stopping her. I did a lot with my teeth when I was younger, and all the adults who saw me yelled at me for it, but I did it anyway.
Disposable teeth are very useful in that regard!
Just in case anyone here is blaming themselves for a thing that they didn’t actually have “control” over: genetics is huge here too. I have two kids who are genetically half siblings, and the kid with the parent who has the more crowded mouth has more crowded teeth, despite more breastfeeding and more chewy foods and all that. Other factors like tongue ties, nutrition, and allergies play their roles as well. All we can do is our best.
Very interesting!
And yes, you're absolutely right about allergies and nutrition - they certainly also play a role. And we can only do our best.
But even in situations where it's not possible to completely prevent crooked teeth, there is stuff that, if we know it at the right time, we can do to reduce the severity. One of my children has cerebral palsy and limited oral function, so therefore doing as much as we can to drive jaw development reduces the effect of her neurological impairment.
And you're right that tongue ties have been investigated for malocclusion, but the evidence is conflicted. It's not a strong association: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002817723005949 .
Very interesting.
When my eldest son was about 8 we had a physiotherapist speak at our breastfeeding mums group about oral development. He had always been a thumb sucker (from birth) and I asked her if that would be why his lower jaw was small. She suggested that it was the other way around - that he sucked his thumb to help him to nose breathe. She checked him over , and found that he wasn’t swallowing correctly-using all the wrong muscles. Because he had been breastfed for 18 months the muscles were well developed but he wasn’t using them right,(maybe he had too soft a diet?) and he mouth breathed if he didn’t have something in his mouth. She retrained him, but he ended up needing a twin block appliance to grow his jaw when he was prepubescent. So glad that he had that option rather than the more traditional approach of removing teeth, but it wish I’d known about hard foods. He’s now 33 and his jaw stayed in correct proportion with plenty of space for his teeth. The physiotherapist said that the best orthodontic tool was correct use of the oral muscles - that if that isn’t corrected then braces won’t do much good in the long term.
It makes sense that not using our jaws enough would lead to these sorts of problems
Fantastic - it's really good to hear about correction that doesn't require tooth extraction. There's been a lot of very negative press recently around this, because Mike Mew who championed a similar approach, was struck off the dental register.
Out of interest, what did the retraining involve before he had a twin block appliance? The usual myofunctional exercises or anything unusual?
It’s a long time ago now, but I remember he wasn’t using the muscles between the jaws when he swallowed - he was doing some weird thing with throwing his head back instead. He had to practice swallowing feeling those muscles to check that he was activating them. I remember he had to hold a button (on a string) between his lips when he was reading or watching tv to help him learn not to mouth breathe. There were other things too but I don’t remember them. It only took a few sessions - she said it would have been harder if he hadn’t been breastfed as the muscles were well developed from that, but he just wasn’t using them.
I felt so fortunate to find her, and to have her point me to the orthodontist who used the twin pack appliance. It only took 9 months, and while it was hard to wear D was very motivated as he understood what it was doing. My other two kids also had slightly underdeveloped lower jaws so they also had the appliance, but they weren’t so bad. I thought I gave them lots of real food, but it obviously wasn’t enough. D had asthma, and dust mite allergies, so maybe that was why he was worse.
I liked that the appliance also helped the back teeth to line up correctly, as it increased the space.
Such a great piece, filled with useful information that is very much outside of the common discourse. I wish I had known this when my child was born, almost as much as I wish my parents knew this when I was born.
I wonder what is your advice for mouth-breathers. I grew up with asthma and have always struggled with allergies, as a consequence my teeth are crowded and nasal breathing is not my default. I've used athletic tape to keep my mouth closed when I sleep, and even bought soft headwear that straps my chin closed. I always rip them off after about an hour because I can't sleep or breath. I practice breathwork daily, and even teach breathwork in school, but sleeping is another matter. I'm frustrated by the energy drain (perceived or real?) and would really like to fix this.
I wonder if you know of any strategies that work?
Ohhhh so much empathy. I was an allergic asthmatic kid and have the face to prove it. Multiple extractions, years of braces, and I still have incisors that I can't bite with. I have found that mouth tape works for me, but my partner, who has similar issues but different symptoms, has found that his sleep is much worse on his back (his tongue falls back into his airway). His solution is that he's created a device with shoulder straps and a particularly spiky piece of Duplo that sits between his shoulder blades to make back-sleeping almost impossible. He also uses a DIY mouth guard that pulls his lower jaw forward. He tried nose-opening tape but didn't find it worked for him. I guess there are so many solutions because none work for everyone...
I've often wondered if there is a correlation between mouth breathing and asthma; not in that people with asthma breath through there mouths because they are hungry for air, but that (perhaps) mouth-breathing weakens the muscles in the upper-respiratory tract that is normally strengthened through the compression of air by nasal breathing? I don't know if that makes sense, but nasal breathing feels fundamentally different to me, as though it reduces asthma flare-ups. Thoughts?
You need to see an airway dentist. They can make sure your nasal passages are wide enough for air flow, and ensure you don’t have a deviated septum (and refer to ENT for surgery if so).
Great point - and apologies, I must have missed this comment, Ryan. Alaina - thanks so much for picking this up!
As Alaina says - there are often underlying structural issues that can be corrected surgically. Additionally some of the tissues are load sensitive and will remodel to a certain extent (mucosa, and, to a certain extent, nasal bone).
With regards to the point about nose vs mouth breathing. Mouth breathing does show correlation with asthma in the literature (e.g. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11882-020-00921-9)
Several reasons:
Nasal breathing has higher resistance than mouth breathing deliberately (because it keeps the alveoli open for longer during exhalation, improving efficiency). Additionally, nasal breathing releases nitric oxide which improves blood flow in the alveoli to improve the efficiency of blood oxygenation.
The humidification and warming of the air also reduces bronchial reactivity, which reduces the risk of asthma attacks.
And improving the efficiency of oxygenation means that the number of breaths taken is less, which exposes the airways to less airflow, reducing drying and reactivity.
So true!! And this makes me think of the research done by Weston A Price in the 1920s showing how tribes around on their natural diets have amazing teeth but as soon as western diets of sugar and refined white flour are introduced, teeth quality and spacing go down! Shows how important nutrition and food fats are for getting the vit D and calcium to the bones and teeth to grow straight!
My kids all breastfed for over a year and don't have the worst western diet 😄, so I'm hoping this all works in their favour to have straight teeth! Just waiting on our cow, so hopefully one day we have raw milk! 😁
Absolutely - have you read the book Jaws by Kahn and Ehrlich? You probably have, but if you haven't, I think you'd enjoy it!
As a veterinarian, I was trained that raw milk was extremely dangerous, but the more I've read about microbes, the more my views have changed. Yes, it's crucial to avoid TB and brucellosis, but there are benefits of good microbes too, not just harms of the bad ones. I'm so envious that you're WAITING ON A COW!!!! SO cool.
I've heard of that book but never read it. I think I'll have to hunt down a copy now. ☺️
Let me know what you think of it! I think the preventative stuff is great, but I'm not sure about the evidence on fixing the problem with devices once it's already occurred. You may have recently seen that the dentist Dr Mike Mew, who's heavily referenced in the book, was recently struck off because of a bad outcome with a patient. As with all of these diseases, it's much much easier to prevent them in the first place than to try to fix the problem when it's occurred...
Absolutely fascinating. I’m going to stop stopping my 18-month-old from tearing open oranges and bananas with her teeth! I did baby-led weaning with both of my exclusively breastfed kids, but my 3 year old has suddenly become quite picky and her lower teeth are super crowded (as are mine, so perhaps that’s just genetic). She does like to chew fried chicken skins and bacon fat, but otherwise her diet has become pretty soft.
Sounds like she’s been set up really well for good jaw growth and she’s using her teeth like a proper little primate! I love it!
Does she often breathe through her mouth? That can also affect lower jaw growth. I’ve linked another article which goes into this in a bit more detail in case it’s relevant. :)
https://guenbradbury.substack.com/p/breathtaking?r=4bpym1
She definitely mouth-breaths at night, and we currently live in Michigan where we unfortunately have stuffy noses for nearly half the year. Once our kids get a bit older, we’re hoping to spend a few of the winter months every year in Taiwan. We’re tired of the back-to-back illnesses!
I can imagine...
They can learn to wash their noses out pretty quickly, and when they realise how much more comfortable they feel, they get pretty motivated. But summer is coming so colds will be fewer!
Mmm, not 100% sure here, my children breastfed for 2+ years, they eat lots of nuts and meat and raw fruit, they don’t mouth breathe. They still don’t have many gaps between their teeth though….
Interesting! Sounds like they have been well set up, so they are much more likely to avoid malocclusion. This paper has a good summary of what normal spaces and occlusion looks like in baby teeth - https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9067/11/2/201 , and also covers the association of jaw growth with the first solid foods that the baby is given.
I was aware of this, having had vampire teeth myself and a small jaw, and after the kids had tongue tie I started to learn more. Maybe the gaps will come as their jaw grows.
I wonder if there is a bit more to it though… it is without a doubt difficult to provide the right foods.
Yeah, their teeth may well space out as they grow. For our child who has oral movement problems, we use a hard chewing gum and that's seemed to help with jaw growth.
See my re-stack but many thanks for the answer to the mystery. I’m a strong believer in example leading to inspiration for others. Your beautifully written memoir pieces are invaluable - women naturally share through personal stories. Have you written a book with stories? When will you?
Thank you! You're absolutely right and I hadn't crystallised it in so many words - but I love listening to other women's stories.
My first book on this topic is with an agent and looking for a publisher - it's stories plus science. In the future, I'd love to write about the adventures we had spending 18 months with three small children in the rainforest! I look back on it and can't believe we managed it! It was such an incredible experience but with some enormous challenges along the way... Thank you for your encouragement, I really appreciate it. :)
I look forward to it - and would love to review when the time comes - you may be interested in this woman https://www.instagram.com/alegraally?igsh=MWs3czM3b3h6bGhuYg== Allegra Ally a visual ethnographer who I think has done similar to you living within another culture with her baby.
Amazing, I'll look her up! And thank you very much for the offer to review, I would love to take up that offer when I'm at a point to have it reviews. Thank you!
Brilliantly written, and brilliant information, thank you. Unfortunately far too late for me or my kids. But as a midwife, I can pass this on. Yet another great reason to breastfeed. Love the way you encourage this in a totally non-judgemental way including for those who can't. And did I say I love your writing? Mind. Officially. Blown.
Thank you so much! I'm really touched, appreciate it. I'm sure you think about this a lot - bringing up babies and children in such a tricky subject to talk about in a way that makes people feel curious and inspired rather than defensive and guilty.
Hi! Where can i buy your book?
Hello! I have an agent and am looking for a publisher. Possibly good news yesterday, so watch this space! Will announce when it's available! 😊
Just a fun anecdote: sometime a few years ago, when my son was probably about three or four, I told him about harder foods being important for jaw health. Now age 8 he regularly requests old, hard bread as a snack, and reminds me that it is good for his jaw. There is still a lot of room for improvement where other hard foods are concerned, but it is amazing to see how small nudges can make a difference. So far, his adult teeth fit in, so I hope we may be on the right track. Might still look into that hard gum, though...
I love this! What a great way to set him up for good jaws! My partner is just the same, he loves stale bread and dries it in his cupboard! The gum is great - the falim and mastic ones aren't sweet, they're just chewy.