One of the common causes of pediatric snoring is adenoid hypertrophy. The adenoids are the tonsils located behind the nasal cavity and on top of the nasopharynx, also known as the nasopharyngeal tonsils, while the tonsils we usually refer to are the palatine tonsils, which, like the palatine tonsils, are a lymphatic tissue of the pharynx. During childhood, it secretes immunoglobulins in order to adapt to the body’s need to defend and resist diseases and to receive stimulation from external pathogens, which enhances the child’s own immune defense. As the body ages, the autoimmune function is gradually improved and perfected, and then gradually atrophies and degenerates in adolescence, and basically disappears in adults. Due to the weak resistance of the pediatric organism and the imbalance of cold and warmth, children are prone to colds and flu, which cause the adenoids to become inflamed and enlarged. The nasopharyngeal adenoids become enlarged, blocking or partially blocking the nasopharyngeal airway, leaving the airway in a narrow state for a long time. As breathing with the mouth vibrates the soft palate or uvula of the pharyngeal cavity, as a result, snoring occurs with breathing.”
Snoring is extremely detrimental to a child’s growth, mainly in the following areas: 1. The child’s open-mouth breathing makes the nasal heating, humidifying and filtering function of the air virtually useless, so children are often prone to colds. Because of poor breathing, lung expansion is not enough, can cause thoracic deformity such as the development of chicken chest.
2. The affected children often swallow nasopharyngeal secretions, causing gastrointestinal activity disorders, resulting in anorexia, vomiting, indigestion and subsequent malnutrition in children.
3. If the adenoids grow to both sides, they can block the pharyngeal opening of the eustachian tube and affect the ventilation of the inner ear drum chamber, which can easily cause otitis media, causing hearing loss and tinnitus, which can be complicated by serious purulent otitis media if there is bacterial infection.
4, adenoids long-term blockage, long-term open-mouth breathing caused by facial bone development disorders, the result is a narrow maxilla, high arched teeth, teeth alignment, upper incisors protrude, scalloped spread, upper lip up, lower lip hanging, nasolabial fissure shallow, jaw inward, indifference, dull expression, “adenoid face”, giving people a The “silly look” feeling. Therefore, pediatric snoring should not be ignored.
The first thing to do is to find an ENT doctor to check if adenoid hypertrophy is the cause, and if there are no other special conditions, surgery can be performed if necessary. Generally, it is best to remove the adenoids between the ages of 4 and 10. If the age is too young, surgery may be dangerous. What should I do if I can’t have surgery at the moment? The child can be put on his or her side or in a semi-recumbent position when sleeping to reduce the symptoms of respiratory distress, but when the infant is unable to feed or has poor hearing that prevents learning language, early surgery should be considered. Secondly, keep the room air fresh and moist in general, which also helps to reduce the symptoms of dyspnea. A diet high in calories and easy to digest, with less dry and hard foods, is recommended to avoid malnutrition. However, if the adenoids are too large, it is not good for the child’s physical and intellectual development. If the adenoid face and thoracic deformity appear, it is difficult to restore to the normal level with surgery. After the surgery, the above mentioned symptoms can be improved or disappeared with the help of nasal drops and blowing the eustachian tube.
Of course, there are many other causes of pediatric snoring, such as enlarged tonsils, rhinitis, nasal polyps, etc., which should not be ignored.