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Throat/teeth/breathing - is there anything I can do?

2 replies

Thundertoast · 20/01/2026 10:00

Hi all,
This is more a curiosity ask really.
I have had a steady train of oral issues throughout my life, and im wondering as to the cause(s) behind it, if anyone has had similar etc and if you've ever done anything about it.

So, I have - an overbite and im 99% sure a deviated septum, as breathing through my nose has always been a real struggle to me. If I move my lower jaw forward, breathing through my mouth is easier (but not my nose)
Overly large and scarred tonsils from years of repeat tonsillitis in my twenties, occasional tonsil stones.
Natural tooth overcrowding and small palette, I have had orthodontic treatment to correct (minus overbite correction) have to wear a retainer at night, which combined with the mouth breathing means I do wake up with a dry mouth/throat, especially when im battling a bug and my tonsils are enlarged. I have also had a lot of fillings, possibly due to genetically weak saliva but I have been wondering about the dry mouth also contributing.
I did have a nasty case of oral thrush that confused doctors as my dental hygiene is excellent due to the orthodontic treatment/retainer useage, but noone has seem particularly bothered about finding out why it happened, even though i fit none of the normal profiles of people it happens to.
I believe my breathing is getting very, very, very slowly worse.

Can I do anything about this, will the NHS care? I do appreciate that they have higher priorities and this isnt very clear cut, but I do wonder if being able to breath through my nose properly would help things... if the answer is 'probably not' I can at least try and make some plans to save to go private (will take me several years)
Again, this is more out of curiosity and im not claiming to be certain all these issues are connected, just wondering really!

OP posts:
Lollygaggle · 20/01/2026 14:20

Go and see your dentist.

oral thrush does not happen in fit,healthy people unless they wear dentures or similar . cleaning of retainer might be a cause but bad oral hygiene does not cause thrush and it is vastly over diagnosed , and treated by those who are not dentists.

Doctors only do a few hours, at most , on oral medicine , dentists spend a lifetime studying it .

stayathomegardener · 20/01/2026 19:09

It sounds like you could benefit from myofunctional therapy.

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