Is It ADHD — Or Is It the Airway?
Is It ADHD — Or Is It the Airway? What Parents in Northridge Need to Know
Your child's teacher sends home another note. Can't focus. Interrupts. Daydreams. Gets frustrated easily. You've been to the pediatrician. ADHD is on the table.
Before you go any further — ask one question: How does your child breathe at night?
It sounds unrelated. It's not.
The ADHD-Airway Overlap Is Real
The American Academy of Pediatrics has acknowledged for years that sleep-disordered breathing in children produces symptoms that are clinically indistinguishable from ADHD. Inattention. Hyperactivity. Emotional dysregulation. Impulsivity. Poor memory. Difficulty following instructions.
These are also the exact symptoms of a child who cannot get restorative sleep — because they cannot breathe properly while sleeping.
A study published in Pediatrics found that children with SDB were more than twice as likely to develop behavioral problems resembling ADHD. And critically: when the breathing was treated, the behavior often improved — without medication.
What’s Actually Happening in the Brain
When a child's airway is partially obstructed during sleep, their body partially wakes up — sometimes dozens of times per night — to restore breathing. The child has no memory of this. To them, they "slept fine."
But their brain never got the deep, slow-wave sleep it needed to consolidate memory, regulate mood, restore attention systems, and process the day's learning. Night after night, this compounds.
The result: a child who looks exactly like they have ADHD. Who may genuinely be struggling with attention. But whose root cause is in the jaw and the airway — not the brain chemistry.
The Signs That Point to Airway, Not Just ADHD
Ask yourself if your child also has any of these:
- [ ] Snores, even occasionally
- [ ] Breathes through their mouth (at rest, during sleep, or both)
- [ ] Has crowded or crooked teeth
- [ ] Grinds their teeth at night (bruxism)
- [ ] Seems tired even after a full night of sleep
- [ ] Has dark circles under their eyes
- [ ] Wets the bed past the typical age
- [ ] Sleeps in unusual positions (head extended back, neck stretched)
- [ ] Has frequent ear infections, chronic congestion, or asthma
If ADHD symptoms exist alongside three or more of the above, the airway deserves serious evaluation before — or alongside — any other intervention.
The Jaw Developed Smaller Than It Should Have
In most cases of childhood SDB, the underlying problem is a jaw that didn't develop to its full intended size. This narrows the space available for the tongue and creates a smaller, more collapsible airway.
This isn't a character flaw or bad luck. It often traces back to:
- Prolonged bottle feeding or pacifier use
- Thumb sucking
- Early mouth breathing (which itself reshapes the face over time)
- Genetics
- Tongue tie (ankyloglossia) that was never treated
The crooked teeth you see are the tip of the iceberg. The jaw that created them is what matters.
What Airway Orthodontics Does Differently
Dr. Yoram Kohanzadeh — Southern California's first certified airway orthodontist — doesn't just straighten teeth. He evaluates the jaw's relationship to the airway and, where appropriate, uses biological jaw expansion to create more space.
His protocol, BioX, works with the body's own growth mechanisms to develop the jaws gently and naturally — at any age. Younger children respond fastest, but adults can and do benefit too.
This isn't experimental. It's what orthodontics should have been doing all along.
The First Step Is Free
Before a diagnosis. Before medication. Before anything else — take the free airway screening. It's 60 seconds and gives you a clear picture of whether your child's symptoms could have an airway component.
👉 [Take the Free Airway Screening] — smilebydrk.com/airway-screener
Two locations serving the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County:
- Northridge (near 405 & 118)
- Newbury Park — Ventura County
📲 Call or text us:
Northridge: (818) 341-5150 | Newbury Park: (805) 498-7785
Smile By Dr. K | Dr. Yoram Kohanzadeh | Southern California's First Certified Airway Orthodontist
