It is easy to be discouraged when you read the refereed literature with case reports showing retraction. Many published case reports do not even mention the word “airway” much less discussing optimizing it as a goal. In fact, many cases show an airway reduction.
The students in my mentorship often say, “Once I saw the problem and how nearly universal it is, I could not unsee it.” Once they recognize a child who has suffered from retraction and subsequently had airway issues, they are totally motivated and want to change things.
I try to help them understand that the profession will change when the waiting rooms of orthodontists who are still treating malocclusions and not real people are empty. Mothers are finding professionals who recognize and have the skills to treat airway issues.
These professionals have no competition from others who have not recognized the issue and continue on as if there is no problem. They are in a position to help parents who have read Breath by James Nestor and are motivated to drive or fly anywhere they can to find someone with the knowledge and training to help their kids (and often themselves). Growing an airway practice is easy when the successfully treated patients, or parents of those patients, get on their mobile devices and communicate instantly with all their friends on the internet.
Their biggest job is to gain the diagnostic skills, understand what works and what doesn’t, and learn how to provide effective treatments. Providing the necessary training to know and implement all this in a practice is what the Early Childhood Health-centered Orthodontics™ (ECHO) Mentorship is about. I gladly spend my days responding to Mentees who post their cases prior to and during treatment. I can hold their hands so they feel supported as they learn to help children have better sleep and breathing.
