Don’t miss this amazing conversation with Dr. Shereen Lim – author of the book “Breathe, Sleep, Thrive” and practicing dentist from Perth, Australia!   In this episode, we discuss:

• The origin of Dr. Lim’s passion for early interceptive orthodontics.
• The impact of early maxillary expansion on airway and breathing.
• Why Dr. Lim feels that starting treatment even before the age of 7 years old can be beneficial.
• What motivated Dr. Lim to write her book, “Breathe, Sleep, Thrive” and why it took 6 years to publish.
• The reasons why Dr. Lim wrote her book in a manner that can be understood by lay people.
• The flaws with the OSA scale as it applies to children and why polysomnography is not a good barometer of pediatric sleep-related breathing disorders.
• The importance of detecting mouth breathing and snoring in our pediatric patients and how the numbers lie when it comes to AHI and children.
• The reasons why nasal breathing is essential to good health and good sleep, and its impact on craniofacial growth and development.
• Common reasons why pediatric patients become mouth breathers.
• Why so many patients remain mouth breathers even after adenotonsillectomy.
• The relationship between palatal width and nasal breathing.
• The incidence of allergic rhinitis and subsequent turbinate hypertrophy in pediatric patients, and the impact it has on sleep-disordered breathing.
• One major reason why Dr. Mike thinks many orthodontists aren’t comfortable treating younger children.
• The numerous benefits of interceptive orthodontic treatment to expand the arches in young patients who present with a transverse deficiency, even in the absence of posterior crossbite.
• What Dr. Lim and Dr. Mike see as the future for airway-focused interceptive orthodontic treatment.