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Welcome to our podcast. My name is Rebecca Boschman. I'm the Associate Director here

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at the Children's Airway First Foundation. And you are here for our first ever podcast.

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So welcome. Wanted to give you a little bit of background about who we are and what we

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do and really today talk as parent to parent. Our foundation was started about a year ago.

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It will be April 2021. And if you want to hear on a more personal level about our guests today

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and the story about their daughter and their journey, you can check out our website. We have a

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great podcast interview that we did with one of our fellow podcasters, Emma Cooksy,

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that will give you the background. But today I'd like to introduce you to our co-founders,

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Brad and Candy Sparks. Hi guys. Good afternoon. Good afternoon actually. Yeah. Right. So,

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you know, today for those of you that really don't know about us just at a high level,

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our mission statement, which you can find on our website, is to make sure that every child

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has screening, evaluation and treatment for airway disorders before the age of six. And as we go along,

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you'll find out why that age milestone is so critical. And today I'd like to just open it up.

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Like I said, we're going to talk parent to parent. Really, why did y'all create CAT? Let's start with

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that. About a year ago, I found out that everything that happened to our daughter,

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she's almost 20 years old now, could have been avoided or treated and treated when she was very

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young. So, in talking parent to parent, I would just like to ask everybody listening today,

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what if somebody told you that your child could be born with a condition or an anomaly

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that's structural in their airway that would cause them to have hypoxic brain injuries,

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innumerable comorbidities, including cancer, heart disease, autonomic disorders, you name it,

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and with lower than IQ by at least 10 points. Would you not rush to your local pediatrician

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and possibly your local dentist and maybe just really know what to do? Well, we had no idea

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that our daughter had this issue. But it was present at birth and could be seen by a trained eye.

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In fact, when she was 18 months old, I went to my cosmetic dentist and he took one look at her

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and she's adorable. Look at her on her website. I mean, gosh, she's this gorgeous child.

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And he said, you know what, she's going to need some work. And I'm thinking, huh, she's first of all,

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she's the smartest kid ever born. We all think that about our kids, don't we? Right. And she's just

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cute as well. What is he talking about? And he said, you're going to go need to go see a Dr.

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Hang, Dr. Bill Hang in California when she's between six and nine. So we thought, well,

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she's 18 months now. At that time, it's all good. But what I learned in the last year is that that

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trained eye could have recognized it at birth. And what would they have been seeing? Number one,

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that she was breathing through her mouth predominantly. And number two, if they had checked

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inside her mouth, they would have noticed that she had a very high upper palate. And that palate

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was actually impeding her nasal airway so that she wasn't able to breathe through her nose because

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that palate was up too high. And we also have been told, oh, and by the way, her chin is back a little

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too far and the tongue is attached to that. And that tongue is falling back into her oral

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pharynx, her oral airway. So even breathing through her mouth had a loss of oxygen that she was trying

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to get. So all of that was possible to see at birth. And one thing that we're fighting for now

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with the Children's Airway First Foundation is the opportunity for every child to have a complete

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airway exam within the first 24 to 48 hours after birth. Because think about it, at least 20% of kids

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are born with some type of airway issue. That's huge. That's astounding. That's huge. And you

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can't even imagine that there are 11 million children under the age of 10 in the United States.

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And usually it starts at birth. But let me tell you, if it isn't present right then and there at

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birth, here's how it could show up for your child. Imagine if you bring your child home and you have

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no idea that there's some black mold in your house. And we're in Texas. So sometimes that happens here

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in Texas. Right. Or you might have a cockroach infestation under your peer and being that you

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don't even know about. But there are toxins in your home. Or maybe you open the window and there's

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a factory nearby and that toxic chemical is blowing into your home. And maybe within hours or days,

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your newborn child is breathing through his or her mouth. And when you breathe through your

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mouth, instead of your nose, your jaws and your airway are going to become compromised.

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They will develop differently. Who knew? I certainly did. I thought I was mouth breathing

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from the start. I thought, yeah, maybe she just does that because I'm nursing her and she's kind

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of saying, hey, again, please. So we're finding that children have this mouth breathing going on

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and we check them and we could see a high dent of arch, maybe a retarded chin so that tongue is

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falling back into their oral pharynx. And other issues that you might look for is typically,

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they may have sort of an accentuated bow upper lip, you know, that cute little bow lip.

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And maybe the lower lip is rolling forward. And those are also characteristics. But I would like

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to ask you to look at a book called Sleep Wrecked Kids, Sleep Wrecked Kids, written by Sharon Moore.

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You can get it on Amazon. You can get it through our website and so on. But if you have a young

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child and you're wondering, they seem to be breathing through their mouth. They also snore

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when they're trying to sleep and they're restless when they're trying to sleep. Maybe their covers

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are thrown all over the place. And maybe you're a child a little older, four or five. And you're

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noticing that they're tired during the day. And they're not able to focus very well. And maybe

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that issue of not being able to focus and concentrate very well is getting in the way of

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preschool. And sometimes those kids become a little more aggressive because their teachers are saying,

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hey, you know, wake up. Did you not do your homework? Did you, is there an issue here? Well,

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those kids may be starting to develop ADHD, ADHD, because that is contributed to my hypoxic

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brain injuries because they are getting on average 18% less oxygen per night. Think of it.

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People all seeing issues where somebody loses their airway and within minutes they die.

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Right. As your child's developing brain, not getting adequate oxygen or CO2 or other necessary

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components during the night or while they're mouth breathing. Mouth breathing is a huge

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issue. Look for it not only in your own child, but other children. And it's not okay. That's

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something that you drove home with me really early on when I joined the organization. Mouth

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breathing is not okay. Right. It's just not, it's not cute. It's not, it's not okay. Absolutely.

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And I have been working with the physician in chief at Delft Children's Hospital here in

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Austin, Dr. Leah Harris. And we were talking, you know, four or five times and one day she said,

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you know what? Mouth breathing is not normal. Maybe that should be our slogan so that we all

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start looking for it because a lot of pediatricians have not been trained to look for the signs of

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airway issues in children. And sometimes they just go straight to, well, this kid seems to have a

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EDADHD when they're around five or six, let's make sure they get some riddle then so they can focus

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and concentrate better. Or they'll grow out of it. That was the other thing that drove home. Yes.

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Yeah, they'll grow out of mouth breathing. They're a nice snore. It's okay. They'll grow out of it.

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They have allergies. Let's wait and see. Right. Or as they get older, it's probably exercise and

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doost allergies. So let's see where the healer is going. Again, you have steroids happening and

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we want to avoid that. So let's go back to this child that's born. I met an osteopath, a DO,

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is and they are MDs. And she said, tell me a little bit about your child's birth. And I did.

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And she said, okay, so I would have taken your daughter, Savvy, and had her skull in one hand

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and be holding her. And then I would have moved my other hand behind her skull and a few inches.

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And I would have noticed that the vibration coming off her skull from her brain was not right.

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Because she had an impaired airway. Then I would have gone inside of her mouth. And I would have

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noticed that she had a very high V shaped upper palate. And then I would have noticed that her

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chin was back so that that tongue that her chin is writing on also called the mandible was too

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far back into her oral pharynx. And she was also having difficulty breathing in that way.

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I would have checked her for what's called lip ties. Is that lip attached with a little piece of

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skin? Is the tongue tied down to the mandible with little pieces of skin? And all of that needs to

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be changed at that point. And then she said, because we are osteopaths, we do manual manipulation.

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So we would have started to reshape that upper palate from a high V shape to a healthy U shaped,

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which is the normal way your palate should be. And by the way, you can see that on our website.

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That's right. It's on our website. Yep. Yes. So and you can see all of these characteristics

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on our website and including our daughter's story, which also talks about what we should have been

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looking for. And photos. That's the other great thing with Savvy story just to interject. If you

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go on our website and you look at our story, you're going to see photos of Savvy. And once you know

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the signs to look for, it's amazing. I mean, they're there. It's just, it's right there. But, you know,

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no one knew. Yes. I have to tell you that this is so new that the vast majority of books have been

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written after 2015. So mine was one of the jobs that causes us to move frequently. So my daughter

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had her first pediatrician and dentist in Potomac, Maryland. And we moved to Seattle. And she had a

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dentist and two pediatricians there. And when she was three years old, she had RSV and she went into

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Seattle Children's Hospital for three days to be treated for RSV or possibly pneumonia. So you had

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all of these different doctors and dentists looking at her within the first three years of her life.

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No one said she has a high V shaped arch. She is a mouth breather. She has a retrusive chin that is too

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far back. Therefore, she has to have a compromised airway. And that will mean that she's not getting

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the normal amount of oxygen she should be getting, especially when she's asleep. Right. So what can

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what can that cause? Do you know that if you have, we all probably heard of sleep apnea, obstructed

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sleep apnea, and we think that that is happening to our 15 year old, or an elderly person who's

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panel of thoracic and possibly overweight. And we think, does that happen to a child?

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Who's ever heard of that? Right. We find that these children are have sleep disorder, breathing,

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or fragmented sleep, or even obstructive sleep apnea. And then what happens when your child

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cannot get into REM sleep, just like an adult, because they can't get the oxygen and the rest

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that they need, and they're waking up many times just like an adult with sleep apnea,

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because sleep is disrupted, it's fragmented. And when they don't get that sleep that rejuvenates them

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and restores their brain function clearly, they begin to get hypoxic brain injuries.

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And there isn't a single psychological disorder that can be tied back to fragmented

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sleep. So my daughter developed greater anxiety, depression. Today she has PTSD,

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and we can talk about all the ways that that manifested and came about. But those were the

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things that were starting in her system. And also she has POTS, which is Pustural Orthostatic

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Tachycardia Syndrome. She has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, she's hypermobile. She has a couple

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of different conditions. But it's amazing. I'd like you also to read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

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Matthew Walker wrote his book in 2017. In the UK, it became the book of the year.

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And it is a fantastic way of finding out if my child has a narrow-way issue, what can happen?

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How will it change the course of their health as they're growing? The first thing that goes, remember

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this, is concentration and focus. So why do we have so many kids that have difficulty reading in

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school? Why do we have so many kids who are half-sleeping in school? Because their sleep is

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disruptive. It has a narrow-way issue, which also means they have a sleep issue. So the thing is,

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is that there is help for babies that can get that exam at birth. Some correction can occur as they are

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an infant and what we call a wobbler. And then we get into the toddler. Did you know that only 30

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months, an airway-centric pediatric dentist, can begin treating your child and helping them to expand

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their airway, fixing these anomalies, turning that high V-shaped arch into a rounded, healthy arch.

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Guiding the mandible and maxilla, the upper and lower jaws forward, expanding the airway so your

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child will get the oxygen they need while they sleep. They will no longer have sleep disorder,

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breathing, fragmented sleep, or any of these conditions. If you don't take this chance to

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help your child get this treatment, they will have more issues trying to learn in school.

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And just the other day, one of our advisory board members from the Mayo Clinic at Rochester,

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who is a neurologist, who studied sleep medicine, is he has set up many of the pediatric sleep labs

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across the country in many of the best children's hospitals, including Boston and Burry and others.

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And he said, what happens when your child cannot learn?

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Is that not terrifying? It is terrifying. It is terrifying. And the other thing that was brought

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up that I think they also touched on and why we sleep is this lack of REM sleep,

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due to waking up because you can't get oxygen, it's destroying their autoimmune system.

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And as a parent to me, that is terrifying. And I would never, ever have put two and two together

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and thought that was going to happen. Right. So you have hypoxic brain injuries and autoimmune

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just wreaking havoc on these kids. Yes. And no one's noticing. Yes. Because hypoxic brain injury

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can be responsible for triggering MS. Yes. And other autoimmune disorders. So also, we look at

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waking and it can trigger the hormone, the hypothalamus, the one that says, I have a

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kind of a snack. I'm not satisfied. I gotta have another one. And you never feel full. So,

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and also, you have a horrible, that same area that can give you a normal response to food of,

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oh, I feel full now. Oh, I'm just eating this and I'm good. But what happens when all you

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only do is eat some more? That's also can manifest from fragmented sleep and an airway issue.

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And it's a vicious cycle. So you're eating more and you can't sleep. So you're tired. So now you're

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not moving. And again, if you're taking this, this is something else that someone else on our

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board has mentioned before that when you look at this holistically, what's happening now as a child

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that we could fix, you know, if we're focused on it is impacting the health span of your child

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as into adulthood, which basically shortens their lifespan. Absolutely. So the biggest thing that

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I would say parent to parent is number one, we're going to be working on getting their way exam score

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into all of our pediatricians, obstetricians, doulas, anyone who is attending an infant.

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It has to be board certified. It has to go through the training and board certification

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to learn to do a comprehensive airway exam on an infant within the first 24 to 48 hours.

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And the physician in chief I mentioned earlier, Dr. Lena Harris, adult children,

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is so interested in getting this done because she's also a neonatologist. And she knows the

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importance of finding everything when you have these preterm babies and babysitter at risk.

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And those even that aren't, what if we don't discover this? What if they continue to mouth

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breathe? What if nobody sees it and no one's trained to see it? So that's a huge thing. We also

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are working with Dell Medical School so that we can change the curriculum for pediatricians.

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So any pediatrician walking into can say, Oh, there it is. I see that here, besides,

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let's evaluate further. And if necessary, maybe even do a sleep lab test or now there are even

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ways to do it at home. And let's make sure that we understand, is this child getting

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proper sleep? Are they getting into REM sleep? Are they getting the kind that allows them to

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concentrate and focus and learn and feel healthy and good about themselves?

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Right. So all of that now, thanks to a whole lot of airway centric dentists and neurologists have

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said, we must get on top of this. We must train everyone in our field to be able to spot these

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children. It's almost 20% of the population of children. There's seven million children in the

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United States and at least 11 million under the age of 10 have these issues.

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Right. And can we just, can we speak to also, we're talking about pediatricians,

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but some of the members of our advisory board are some of the most prestigious and well-noted

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dentists and orthodontists and, you know, maxofacial

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professionals, yeah, surgeons in the industry. And I keep hearing time and time and time again,

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you know, speaking parent to parent, this warning about removing permanent teeth as they come in

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and retract of braces. Could we, can we touch on that a little bit because to me, you know,

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if you've missed the signs at birth and as a parent, you have a, you have a child coming in

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and you think, oh, their teeth look really great. There's, there's no gaps in them and they're coming

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in. I had no idea that that was a sign. There should be gaps, right? So that the, their adult

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teeth have room to come in. But, you know, once they come in, how many children do you know

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are shipped off to the orthodontist? Let's pull teeth and let's talk retract of braces.

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Right. I just read a story the other day about a mom who's her daughter to see the orthodontist

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and said, you know, she has crooked teeth. She has a lot of cavities. She has a malocclusion,

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like class two malocclusion, which means that big overbite or what we used to call buccate.

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And maybe it's even more prominent than that. Or sometimes there's a class three malocclusion,

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which means your lower jaw comes out farther than your upper jaw. So your lower teeth are

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out farther than your upper teeth. And then there's a class one malocclusion, which basically means

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you have very crooked teeth. So also if you're mouth breathing, kids at 72 months have many more

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cavities than kids who are nasal breathing. Right. So always the goal to get them to nasal breathing.

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And there are lots of ways to do that. And we talked about that too with my functional

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therapy and so on. But your question, Rebecca, is about when it's time to go to the orthodontist.

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Oh my gosh, I wish I had known then what I know now. Right. So we moved from Seattle and we

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lived in Scottsdale a couple of years and then we moved to Austin and our daughter was eight.

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And she started this new private school and the kids were giggling about the fact that she had

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this severe class two malocclusion. Her mandible and her teeth were way forward. It was almost

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that cartoonish grin that you sometimes see in cartoons. She's like, Mom, you know, they're

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kind of laughing at me. And I said, okay, time to go to the orthodontist. So we looked at who is

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the number one person in Austin and we went there. And he said, Oh, yes, I see that she will need

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orthognathic surgery, also known as double jaw surgery, also known as MMA. And that means that

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both jaws have to be moved forward to help open expand that airway and allow her to breathe through

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her nose and develop more healthy to be more healthy. So anyway, he said, but she's AIDS and,

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you know, looks are important. And in fact, if you read anything about dentists and orthodontists,

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they want to assure that your child has a healthy esteem, self esteem, and that they can improve

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their smile to help with that. Right. He said, I can give her a great smile. But at 17, she will

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need to have those jaws pulled forward and to have orthognathic surgery. So I'm thinking well,

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all right, that makes sense. So he put in a rapid expander, which takes care of that

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upper palate and expanded it very quickly because it was so high to begin with. And as people,

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of course, and then put on what are called retractive orthodontics. In other words,

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bare men to push the team back. But here's what I know that most people never know is that even

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a millimeter or two, think of it a millimeter or two can push the tongue farther into that oral

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pharynx that this child is trying to breathe through cause more damage. Right. That's why today,

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you need a dentist and orthodontist who believes in something called forwardontics or bringing

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the jaws forward, not back to protect the airway. And you need to ask them, are you an airway

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centric dentist? Are you going to and to really protect my child's airway? And if they say, oh,

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it's not important, by the way, your child could breathe through a straw, but the size of the airway

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should be the size of a hose. And we even have orthodontists who claim that a child can breathe

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through something as tiny as a Starbucks straw, Sturks straw. Right. Because all my mom, they're

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struggling to breathe and getting my toxic brain injuries and systemic comorbid.

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You're listening to airway first with today's guest, Brad and Candy Sparks. You can find out

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more about the Children's Airway First Foundation and our mission to ensure that every child has

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access to screening, evaluation and treatment of all children's airway disorders before the age of

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six on our website at children'sairwayfirst.org. You can also find a ton of great resources for

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parents on our website, including things like videos, blogs, recommended books, comprehensive

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medical research and more. As a reminder, this podcast and the opinions expressed here are not

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a medical diagnosis. If you suspect your child might have an airway issue, contact your pediatric

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airway dentist or pediatrician. And now, back to our podcast. Oh my gosh. Well, we didn't know to

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ask those questions. We didn't even know there was such a thing as an airway issue. She was

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an idiot. Right. Okay, but we're at the number one guy and he's gonna give her a nice smile.

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And it's all gonna be good. All right. This is insane. So she's got the braces on and she begins

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to walk more slowly across her campus at school and can I get to her next class or to the building

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with the lunchroom minute and move with the other children? She has to walk more slowly.

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She is not getting enough air, right? Be able to walk at a normal pace with the other kids.

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And this was a kid who is running around and fits prior to getting these retracted races.

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And we actually know now from Dr. Bill Heng, who's on our website, who is an extraordinary

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dentist who is airway centric, he is a pioneer in this and bringing the jaws forward that he

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looked at her records and said, it was moved back two to three millimeters enough to completely

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destroy her health, her memory. She's like, mom, I don't know why I can't remember much of my

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childhood. Mom, I don't know why I can't remember to bring my homework to school. And I'm not one

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of the smart kids anymore. Yeah. How can this be? So when she was 10, her fifth grade teacher said

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to me, do you know that your child blacks out in class? That we can't even wave our hand in

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front of her and have her wake up? That's called a micro sleep. And if you're looking at the book,

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why do we sleep? You find out how this happens in children. They're so exhausted from not sleeping

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at night that they're bringing us to go into a micro sleep. So they also said, you know, she's

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forgetting our homework. She's walking more slowly. We had to give her a key card to get into other

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buildings because she couldn't keep up with the kids to walk across. And oh, by the way, we're going

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to put her in a special class with children with disabilities and diseases, who also are weak and

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lacking in stamina and strength. Our child quite seven couldn't walk mountains and hills

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in the Seattle area and in Italy on a summer vacation and run all over suddenly has these issues

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because her airway is so incredibly impaired. Right. So we take her to Texas Children's to the

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famous pulmonologists who saw the way the bull and took care of him for years. And we think

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he's going to know everything. He's going to cure our child. Wow, let's do it. So we go

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so and so amazing. He runs all these tests, takes all these images, and he tells us that our daughter

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is a history. Why? Because pulmonologists are generally looking at the thoracic region from the

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neck down, not from the neck up. Right. So he's not noticing the upper airway.

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And to their credit, pulmonologists also are mainly trained to address emergencies.

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And you would see that in the book, Breath by James Nestor. And as he talked with pulmonologists

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about why aren't you looking for this and explain why. So she's going through all of this. And she's

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thinking no one understands. And her best friend died of leukemia. And she's thinking he was getting

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weaker and weaker and weaker and such a bright, darling child. And maybe I'm going to die too.

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And she's becoming more depressed. And she's anxious because she can't remember things.

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She's trying to even stay up late because you can't sleep to do more homework. And I can,

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I'm thinking, are you trying hard enough? Because the doctors aren't pointing this out. And her

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pediatrician says, oh, she has exercise and do asthma. Take her to the track. They're going to

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run a little bit. Then walk, run, walk. And here's another retailer. Right. It's not working.

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So at 12, she said, you know, I'm done. And we went to see a psychologist. And while we were there,

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back in Seattle, we happened to see my cosmetic dentist, the one who saw right 18 months with

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that trained eye. And he said, let me just check her. And he said her back in the chair and said,

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oh, my gosh, I don't know how she breathes. She is 50 to 80% block. This is already off.

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But the teeth are back. And there's no place for the tongue other than to fall back and

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or various right. And he said, you have to go see Dr. William Hange in California immediately.

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So we went to see him. And we also saw a myofunctional therapist named Joy Moller. And

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both of them took measurements and said, I'm sorry, it's too far on. She is going to need that

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work in ethics surgery, that double jaw surgery, MMA surgery now immediately. So there's a preparation

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process that takes five to six months. We had to go through that. It was very difficult. We also

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knew that the father of sleep apnea, the late Christian Guilleminault at Stanford could tell us

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what was going on with the sleep apnea. We went to see him and he said, yes, she has obstructive

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sleep apnea. And oh, by the way, we're going to test her right now for narcolepsy and MS.

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She's 13, 13. And all of this has been manifesting mainly at the time she was eight and had

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retracted braces that push those teeth back, even just a few millimeters from a dentist

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who is highly rated. And I'll have to say that I have family credit. I don't think he knew

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what could happen. I don't. What is so terrifying. We talk about this in our board meetings. We've

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brought this up in other discussions and auxiliary conversations. As a parent, the fact that dentists

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don't realize the statements that they could do. I mean, they think they're doing the right thing.

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Yes. Absolutely. And as I looked into, well, what are the standards? What are the board

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certifications for dentists and orthodontists? And they actually have different beliefs in

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different dental schools. Some believe in using retracted braces. Some believe, well, they all

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do, but some look at rapid expanders. Don't like them. Some pull for by cuspids. And here's a thing.

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If you're an orthodontist who wants to pull teeth, run. Right. I'm telling you run because we ended

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up with the world renowned maxillofacial surgeon, Dr. Larry Wolford, who is known and admired. And

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he set the gold standard for maxillofacial surgeons. And he said that half of his patients have had

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teeth pulled. And the worst are the ones who have four by cuspids pulled and then retracted braces.

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And now they're having trouble chewing, swallowing, they're having trouble eating,

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they're having trouble speaking. All of their mild functions, their facial functions are impaired.

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And I had another doctor say they look like hell, they feel like hell, they function like hell.

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It's a terrible thing. And this can come from a dentist or an orthodontist and many orthodontists

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are self-taught, they're general dentists. So we have to be sure as parents to make sure that we're

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working with somebody who is trained to be airway centering, who is trained to provide your child

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with jaw advancement, bringing it forward instead of bringing it back. Correct. So and the earlier

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you start, the better. Right, which was also amazing to me because as a parent, I remember

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being made fun of because I wanted to get my daughters to the dentist and they were three.

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But having been here and working with the organization for a year and everything that I

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everything that I've read, they should have been at the dentist before that. Yes. It's just it's

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counterintuitive and it's just everything that could have been caught and prevented. And you know,

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so again, we have this paradigm shift just with parents. When should they be going to the dentist

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with their children? When is the first time? Right. When they should have their first exam.

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Right. At 30 months, they can be cut. They can start to have treatment to bring their jaws forward

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if necessary. And you think that that oh my gosh, that must be horrible thing. It's all non-surgical.

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There are appliances, almost like clear liners, where there are softer plastic, but they guide

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the jaws forward. And it's done over a longer period of time. But the aim is especially

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trained pediatric dentists who are airway centric like Dr. Kevin Boyd in Chicago, who's also on staff

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at LaRae Children's Hospital, where you have a great team of an osteopath and EMT, ear, nose,

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and throat, and laryngologist. You even have psychologists who understand what it's like

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to be physically impaired and have anxiety and depression due to airway issues and so on.

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Understand you're a whole person and can work with you. They have a great sleeper. And in fact,

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Kevin Boyd is mentioned in almost every book written today. Yes, it is. The interesting thing

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is Kevin had two daughters. And as he started to recognize this in his older daughter, he started

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to think of ways he could help her. And he wasn't able, it was too late to really help her to the

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extent she needed, but he was able to intervene with his younger daughter and cure her of all of

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these issues by guiding her jaws forward and correcting her upper collar and so on. So he

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has mastered this approach with children. I've actually seen an eight-year-old boy in his office

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don't be happy to ask him, you gave me 10 or 11 years, now he can play ball, now he can run,

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now he can play. And I became a great student. And there are many, many, many success stories

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of children who have this airway-centric work done. There's also Dr. Ben Ruralia, M-I-R-G-I-A,

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look for it on our website. In the New York area, he's trained about 200 other dentists to do this

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work and they're doing great work. He also trains their staff and mild functional therapy to keep

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function going well with children. Take a look at that on our website. And it's just so important

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that we recognize this. I'd like to mention another book that's great, especially if your child is in

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that six, seven, eight-year-old range and it's called Grave Parent. It just came out on March 22nd,

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written by a dentist, Dr. Susan Maples. And she's actually in Lansing, Michigan. And Susan speaks

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all over the country about these issues with airway and how to make sure that we discover them

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in children. She's also a pioneer in getting the word out and helping parents. But read her book,

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Grave Parent, and especially the chapters on sleep and breathing. And it will give you also the

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language you need to talk with your pediatrician, to talk with your dentist, to ask the right

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questions. And be curious because once you start any treatment, you have to make sure

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that you are not doing anything more to impair your child. And the goal is to get your child to

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be able to breathe through their nose. Because also breathing through your nose is like running

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anything, coming through a clearinghouse so that it's actually helps your immune system. Did you

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know breathing through your nose helps your immune system? I did not. Wow. Is rudeness. Correct.

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Correct. From what it removes to what it creates, even down to the way it lets it come through,

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because it adds moisture to others. Again, these books that Candice mentioned, we'll kind of go

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through them again at the end, but they're amazing. They will give you this deeper understanding.

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And I will tell you, as a parent, they're going to terrify you a little bit. And as a parent,

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I'm going to tell you what's rightfully so. Let it terrify you because this is scary.

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And it's something that as parents, we have the power to do for our kids, to help our children.

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And with that, I kind of want to segue into Brad to talk about,

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again, I come to this a little different. I didn't have the journey with Savi. I know Savi now,

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and I love her, and I feel her journey, but I wasn't there. But as a parent, I think, oh,

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I've got insurance, and I can do this for my kid, and I can do this for my kid, and I'm doing such a

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great job, and come to find out, even that's not necessarily true because of the way it's

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structured. And Brad, I'd like to open it up to you to speak a little bit more parent to parent on that.

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Well, parent to parent is very interesting. Keddie, she alluded to the time when we actually

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were introduced to the orthodontist who put the retracted braces on, and of course, went through

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the story about, I can give you a good smile. Savi will need surgery when she's 17, which

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we've never heard before. So we're kind of ready. And so, and I've worked for some pretty decent

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companies who've got very good insurance plans, and so orthodontics and dental insurance was one

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of them. So what I wanted to do, parent to parent, talk about what we would wish we could have asked

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the orthodontist when we first signed, he was talking about this smile and the surgery in the

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future, but we never ever mentioned our way, not once. So when you think about that, we didn't know,

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and we just assumed that that was not an issue. Just assumed it. And that was probably the very,

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very critical mistake that we made. And now, if we were to start over and have that

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same conversation, the first thing we would have been asking, well, what will this do to her airway?

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And which is at this point in time, if that person, if the doctor would have come back and said,

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oh, she'll be fine, no big deal. Then asking, well, what proof do you have of that? Let's feel a

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little more specific about that. And then get into what really happens to it. And our feeling was

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that then we would go refer her, Sally, to an airway that this is an airway or the daughters,

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somebody who's actually claiming that they know something about this. And now, back at that point

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in time, they're really working to my knowledge. I mean, you had Bill Hange, and Kevin was learning

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at that time, and Ben were all in, and some other people around who are really good at this now,

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and experts. And one of the things we want to do with the website is to have a referral,

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where we can ask, well, who can I see? We're going to get to that point. We're not there yet,

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but we want to get to there. But so it really goes back to, as a parent, because no one else is

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going to do this. And Rebecca, you mentioned the insurance companies. Well, I find it very

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ironic, as a finance guy, that the insurance companies and corporations have got this benefit

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of orthodontics for the kids. And so we slap these braces onto the kids. We don't ask a whole lot

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of questions. It smiles nice. We don't really recognize what's going on. But what we're really

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doing is causing a huge problem for the medical side of the insurance company, the insurance

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industry. Now in the road, where these kids are having ADHD, and I don't know, types of other

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issues, and sadly, to the point where she had maxivacial surgery to correct the problems that

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will really be a little bit, that maybe not cause, but certainly exacerbated by putting these

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attractive orthodontics on. So in fact, you know, the mechanic I have been talking about,

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you know, what next, what are we, who do we need to see? So we plan on seeing insurance executives,

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here in Texas, and eventually all over the country, to let them ask them, what are you doing? And

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being a finance guy, you know, I'm kind of like, wow. So I'm doing a great job on the dental side,

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not making a whole lot of money at it. And then we're causing huge problems, huge financial

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problems for the industry, for the individuals involved, you know, no one should be happy about

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this. So why are we doing this? Why are the insurance companies paying for this? And so

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my thought would be, okay, well, as a parent, we want a second opinion to make sure that whatever

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orthodontic work is going to be done is not impaired in the airway. Well, you know, actually,

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the insurance companies ought to be doing the same thing. They ought to be some kind of a screening

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before they pay for any orthodontia. It ought to be their standards that are met, but that are

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ensuring that that the airway is not impaired in any way. That's not happening to them. But

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I will, that's one of the things that can happen. We are going to focus in that area to make sure

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that from the insurance side, and the same thing is in coverage is really good. This is life threatening

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stuff. So, you know, we need everybody, you know, Ken, you know, I've been fortunate that we've got

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to work for large corporations that have very good insurance plans. But what about those kids who don't?

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You know, right? All those kids, they're just innocent kids. And so we need to make sure

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that everybody has access to healthcare that, and it's particularly in this breathing side of it,

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and Ken, you know, throughout the thing, what about those kids that are in a 20-story building

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with black mold and they're breathing through their mouth, and so they're not developing correctly.

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You know, are there some allergies? There's all kinds of things, and I think Susan Naples

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of her books points out some of that. So, you really look at this as parents, you know, you really

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got to ask and educate yourself. And as soon as you start seeing the symptoms that can be alluded to

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and pointed out about, you know, mouth-bringing all that, there's so many things. There's all

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these indicators that your child is down an issue, and we saw we didn't get it. And so we're just,

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you know, we want to educate parents to be looking for these things, and when you see them,

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then you get to an airway-centric dentist who can fix these things. And of course,

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hopefully the pediatricians will start doing this automatically as part of their training,

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so that when these little kids come out and have a lot of fix by their snips. Right, and that's part

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of what we're doing. We're not just here to educate parents. We are here to change how

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insurance is going to be handling these things, and we're here to tackle education for pediatricians,

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dentists, everybody. Because if everybody knows what's going on, they're also not going to be

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siloed. Pediatricians don't talk to dentists. We got to fix that. Rebecca, we see this as a huge

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public health issue, and you're just getting into that. And this first year has been learning and

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reading all these books, and the books that you and Candy identified, they're fascinating books.

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Some are easier to read than others, and but they're all good. They're really good. And

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as a concerned parent, it's worth the time to read them. Right, right. So before I give you guys

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a final thought, let me just kind of wrap up for people so that, because this is a lot to throw

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at everybody, and this is just our first podcast, and there's so much more for us to cover. And we

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are going to be bringing in experts, and we really want to talk about this from every possible angle.

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But some of the books that we want you to check out are on our website that we mentioned,

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Breathe, Why We Sleep, Sleep Right Kids, Brave Parent. They're all on our website under our

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resource area. You can go there. We have a full recommended reading list, and it's great for

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00:53:56,040 --> 00:54:00,040
parents. It's great for medical professionals. We're trying to get all the information out there to

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00:54:00,680 --> 00:54:07,640
everyone. For parents, if you're really not sure where to start, you're wanting to go through

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00:54:07,640 --> 00:54:15,160
those signs again. If you go to our website under the 2022 Airway Awareness Project,

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there's all this information, signs to look for, symptoms. There is our initial

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search for an airway-centric dentist, which came from, as Candio alluded to, Ben Morales. We're

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going to be expanding on that, but we're here to help you. We're here to provide you with this

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information, and we hope you'll use it. This month, we launched our airway huddle, which is

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now our forum for parents. We don't want you to have to go through what Brad and Candy went through.

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We're giving you a forum, a place that you can come. You can talk to other parents. You can

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share your stories. If there is an airway-centric dentist you're working with, tell us about it.

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00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:06,520
Put it on the forum. We'll make sure we talk to you. If there's somebody we can put you in

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touch with, we'll get you their information. We're putting these tools and resources there

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for you to help you and to help your children. With that, I would like to turn it back over

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to Brad and Candy for a final thought that you could tell parents.

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Well, when is the substance in nasal breathing? It's Microsoft-side. It helps your immune system.

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The second thing is, if we had known in 2002 when our daughter was born that we should ask for

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comprehensive airway exam, and that we should begin seeing the dentist, then I would do one,

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and we should seek out an airway-centric dentist. If we knew all of those things, our daughter would

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not have gone through so much and still having issues today. She's a very, very special young

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woman and so capable, and yet she's had to deal with all of these issues. So, without a beat,

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no. In the last year that is preventable, it's avoidable, it's treatable, we might help everybody.

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Like, spring from a rooftop, please, if you see a mouth breathing in your child or any of these

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signs we've talked about, go to our website, take them, call us, email us. We'd be happy to help it anyway.

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Just to add to that, I think the biggest thing from my standpoint for parents is to educate

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yourself as soon as you realize, and it's good to educate yourself anyway, but as soon as you

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realize that your child might have some airway issue, start learning about it, and then seek out

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help. And again, it's hard to find that help right now. If you're living in a large city, great,

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the website, you'll find somebody faster than if you're like where I grew up, I grew up in

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Northern Idaho, quite a ways away from the big city. But the big thing is educate yourself

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to realize that what the issues are. And then the other part of it is get your child to help

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infect as early as possible because the younger they are, the easier they are to correct any kind

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of an issue that they have. So, the longer you wait, then you get to our point where there was no

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choice like macsivation surgery. That was the only choice we had. So, educate and get treatment.

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And if you're at that point of macsivation surgery, say you have a teenage daughter or son who

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needs this type of help, a person that you might consult is Dr. Larry Wilkford in Dallas,

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00:58:01,960 --> 00:58:12,200
and he is number one in the world. And he, there isn't anything he hasn't seen. He's a great person

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to consult. Yep. And you can find his information on our website. Yeah, thank you both. Thank you

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both for everything you're doing. It's an amazing organization and I personally am honored to be

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part of it. And I look forward to seeing what we can do in all the lives we can change and help.

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00:58:29,480 --> 00:58:36,600
So, thank you both. Thank you. Thanks for that. Thanks for everyone who's listening.

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Thanks again to today's guests, Brad and Candy Sparks for sharing their story,

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and to each of you for listening to today's episode. If you're new to our podcast, please

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00:58:46,360 --> 00:58:50,360
don't forget to subscribe. And if you enjoyed today's episode, please remember to leave us a

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00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:55,160
review or comment about what you enjoyed most. You can stay connected with the Children's Airway

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00:58:55,160 --> 00:59:00,120
First Foundation by following us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you'd like

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00:59:00,120 --> 00:59:05,000
to be a guest on an upcoming episode, shoot us a note via the contacts page on our website,

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00:59:05,000 --> 00:59:12,360
or send us an email directly at info at childrensairwayfirst.org. Remember, this podcast and

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the opinions expressed here are not a medical diagnosis. If you suspect your child might have

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an airway issue, contact your pediatric airway dentist or pediatrician. And finally, thanks to

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all the parents and medical professionals out there that are working to help make the lives of

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kids around the globe a little bit better. Take care, stay safe, and happy breathing, everyone.