Functional Orthodontics
March 18, 2026
What is the Orthodontist's Role in Sleep and Airway?
”Hi, my name is Dr. Rebecca Bockow at Inspired Orthodontics, and I'm here to answer the question, what is the orthodontist's role in sleep and airway? So if we think about the skeletal base, if we think about the jaws, we think about the upper jaw. So think about this upper jaw. Everything you see in yellow, don't think about it as just the maxilla.
"Think about it as the nasal maxillary complex. If we think about this critically, the roof of the mouth is the floor of the nose. And so when we think about these growing, developing jaws, if we have a small upper jaw, we tend to have underdeveloped nasal passages. If the jaws are inherently small, we have less tongue space. So as we grow and develop the jaws, we create more space for nasal breathing, more space for the tongue.
"And we also tend to see more space for the teeth. So when you come talk to us at Inspired Orthodontics, if you're wondering, " Why does my child have crowding? Why is my child having a hard time with breathing, speech, or sleep?" Sometimes, if the true diagnosis is that the jaws are small, we can help guide skeletal growth and help open up everything.
"Improve nasal breathing, improve tongue space, create more space for the teeth, and hopefully help guide your child into a healthier position to continue to grow and develop. Thank you so much! If you want to find us, find us on Instagram @InspiredOrtho. You can find me @rbockow. You can find us on our website InspiredOrtho.com. Thank you so much."
Dr. Bockow loves to create beautiful smiles for her patients, setting them up for a lifetime of dental and airway health.
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At Inspired Orthodontics we love caring for our patients! Please contact us to make an appoinment with our orthodontists in Seattle and Bellevue.
We offer our patients in Seattle braces, Seattle orthodontic expansion, Seattle Invisalign, Seattle sleep apnea treatment, and Seattle surgical orthodontic treatment. We offer our patients in Bellevue braces, Bellevue orthodontic expansion, Bellevue Invisalign, Bellevue sleep apnea treatment, and Bellevue surgical orthodontic treatment.