**This post has been sponsored by Musso Family Dentistry to bring you this experience.  All opinions are 100% our own!**

Musso Family Dentistry believes in the strong connection between oral health and overall health.  They may just have the right system to help your kids overcome certain challenges in school or not-so-great habits at home and help your child sleep better.

I had the unfortunate life hiccup of a complicated appliance called a palate expander. Also referred to euphemistically as a “butterfly,” this appliance was a semi-permanent, roof-of-my-mouth installation which I “cranked” each night to widen my tooth palate to make room for all my adult teeth to eventually lay straight. My 6th grade class will remember this hiccup with either pity or disgust as I spent the year unable to speak any words that required the roof of my actual mouth to pronounce. There was a major lisp. There was excessive saliva. It was an excruciatingly-timed hiccup, and the one that causes me to argue whenever someone says something inane like “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” because sometimes what doesn’t kill you makes you humiliated two full decades later.

Given my spotty orthodontic history, you can imagine how I felt when I discovered this month that there is a preventative measure to the appliance I had. Not only that, this system can also solve a host of children’s problems, that might seem unrelated, but in fact stem from the very common issue of mouth breathing. If your child is mouth breathing, he/she may not be sleeping well, she might have speech problems, she might snore or grind her teeth, or she might wet the bed. You might notice her sitting and reading with her mouth open, she might want to sleep more than her peers, or she might exhibit a host of other symptoms.

If these symptoms resonate with you, I urge you to make an appointment for a free consultation with Musso Family Dentistry. When I met with Dr. Mark Musso, I had no idea that when my daughter was grinding her teeth, it was because she was trying to get better oxygen. But Dr. Musso explained how our tongue’s default position should be on the roof of our mouth, with our lips closed. This position naturally helps to push the teeth outward from the interior of our children’s growing mouths into a beautiful arch, thereby making room for their adult teeth to fall into place. Symptoms such as ADD/ADHD type behavior, bedwetting, teeth grinding, night terrors, and much more can be seen in children. When kids tongues do not spend enough time in this default position (there are more specific causes of a change of default position, but the root cause is mostly: modern life. Unavoidable).

Musso Family Dentistry and The Healthy Start System

Dr. Mike Musso and Dr. Mark Musso prescribe a series of devices depending on your child’s individual needs. Typically it involves a system called The HealthyStart system which helps re-program a child’s default mouth position. I spoke with one a mom who had seen results and she teared up as she told me about how this system changed her whole life. She was evangelistic as she shared how her then 10-year-old sleeps better, he no longer wets the bed (starting on the FIRST night wearing his appliance), his grades improved, he was no longer considered ADHD, and his teeth already look much better and he may avoid braces. The system consists of some slightly different options depending on your child’s age and symptoms, but Musso Family Dentistry says the system helps 9/10 children with issues which parents typically do not relate to dental issues. 

My 5-year-old was the only one with severe symptoms, but for our second appointment I took my 9- and 7-year-olds into his office to have them evaluated as well. All three could benefit from the system – by wearing the appliance now we can minimize the amount and duration of their orthodonture later in adolescence.

The appliance was easier for my child to use than I expected. I made reading time our time to wear it, and my daughter didn’t mind. Kids typically work up to sleeping the whole night in the HealthyStart System. The appliance is BPA, Silicone/Latex free, is FDA cleared and American-made.  The HealthyStart treatment is safe, pain free, non-invasive and effective.

At a minimum, the Musso Family Dentistry helps kids to make their mouths ready for adult teeth so that braces are either avoided or their duration is shortened, and they get a better night’s sleep–which is a win for everyone! With the projected cost of orthodonture for 3 kids, I’ll take a HealthyStart System for each of them. Anything to avoid a 6th grade “butterfly” like I had.

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