Abstract
Introduction: The oral breathing is a disturb of high prevalence and that modify directly the structures of the estomatognathic system, damage alterations in the faces' structure, influencing in the functions of chewing and swallowing, and being able to cause obesity or low weight.
Objective: To study the prevalence of oral breathing in obese and healhty teenagers and compare the phonoaudiologic alterations in these groups.
Methods: Fifty teenagers (males and females) were evaluated, 30 obeses and 20 healthy. All the patients, had been trough odontologic care and phonoaudiologic interview, to find any possible interference in the results. After that, they had been evaluated for facial, swallowing and chewing functions. This procedure was taped for further analysis.
Results: We found alterations in tonus and mobility of: tongue in oral breathers (OB) obeses (48%), cheeks in nasal breather (NB) obeses (89%) and lips in OB healthy (89%). The higher alteration of the swallowing was found in obese OB (81%) and of chewing in healthy OB (78%).
Conclusion: The healthy nasal breathers have the lower indices of alterations in the speech organs and in the oral functions. The oral breathing was associated to swallowing' alteration in obeses and in the chewing process in the healthy group. We found the higher rates of alterations in the speech organs in obeses, independently of the oral or nasal breathing. Since the importance of these functions for the maintenance of muscle's tonus and for one adequate mechanics of food ingestion, the inquiries and research become pertinent for the area. In clinics, the facial miotherapy, involves aspects that if they are not integrated, may become a mistake.
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Gião, P., Moreira, V., Fisberg, M. et al. Consequences of Oral Breathing in Obese and Healthy Teenagers: PO 40. Pediatr Res 60, 638 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200611000-00037
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-200611000-00037