Mouth breathing

In the early 20th century, "mouth-breather" was a technical term used by doctors to describe children who were breathing through their mouths due to an underlying medical condition.

"[7][4] Jason Turowski, MD of the Cleveland Clinic states that "we are designed to breathe through our noses from birth – it's the way humans have evolved.

[8] Thus, the impact of chronic mouth breathing on health is a research area within orthodontics (and the related field of myofunctional therapy)[9] and anthropology.

[21]: 435 Conditions associated with mouth breathing include cheilitis glandularis,[20]: 490  Down syndrome,[22]: 365  anterior open bite,[21]: 225  tongue thrusting habit,[21]: 225  cerebral palsy,[23]: 422  ADHD,[24][25] sleep apnea,[26] and snoring.

The usual effect on the gums is sharply confined to the anterior maxillary region, especially the incisors (the upper teeth at the front).

This region receives the greatest exposure to airflow during mouth breathing, and it is thought that the inflammation and irritation is related to surface dehydration, but in animal experimentation, repeated air drying of the gums did not create such an appearance.

[33] He also observed that mothers repeatedly closed the mouth of their infants while they were sleeping, to instill nasal breathing as a habit.

[40] Lambs are noted to only switch to mouth breathing when the nasal passages are completely obstructed, with hypoxaemia having developed also as a result.