Former Wexford Dentist Opens New Center to Address Rampant Health Problems In Children Throughout Region
Dr. Leslie Pasco, a Wexford-based dentist for 26 years, has opened a new clinic, MyoWay Centers for Kids, to address numerous breathing-related health issues in the region’s children through the use of innovative Myofunctional appliances and therapy exercises—leading to better physiological, behavioral, mental, and educational outcomes.
“Over nearly three decades of dentistry, I noticed children’s mouths were growing smaller while their teeth were growing more crowded, and I started to wonder why,” Dr. Pasco says. “When I dug into the research, I found this trend is universal: Society is changing, but our mouths aren’t adapting with it. Instead, our mouths and airways are getting smaller with each generation, and it’s negatively harming our children.”
Some of the most surprising findings in Dr. Pasco’s research:
Approximately 90% of children show symptoms and consequences of sleep-related breathing disorders, including snoring, irritability, bedwetting, learning difficulties, slow growth, cardiovascular difficulties, obesity, teeth grinding, and enlarged tonsils.
81% of children who have speech/articulation delays also have orofacial myofunctional disorder, which results from underdeveloped muscles in the face, mouth, or throat.
Children with breathing problems like snoring, mouth breathing, or apnea are 40–100 times more likely to develop behavioral problems resembling ADHD.
Orofacial Myofunctional Therapy, like the kind provided at MyoWay Centers for Kids, boasts an 80-90% success rate in correcting rest posture, swallowing, and other oral functions.
These issues can hamper intellectual development, emotional control, and physiological growth, and they can also contribute to heart disease, eczema, lowered IQ, depression, and ADHD. But MyoWay Centers for Kids aims to change that.
“We use a multi-step approach to help kids grow properly and breathe better while toning their facial muscles and airways,” Dr. Pasco says. “We use FDA-approved silicon appliances custom fitted to the child’s mouth, then teach them how to breathe through their nose while holding their tongue in the proper position. From there, we work on developing muscles in their jaws, cheeks, and tongue for better function. You can think of our process like the corrective helmets infants wear to reshape their skulls; we’re helping to reshape the jaw and airways.”
Most children who enter the program finish within three to six months, often improving their health, grades, and behavior in the process. “It’s amazing how well it works,” Dr. Pasco says. “We’ve seen infants who can’t sleep finally sleep quietly and soundly after two weeks of treatment. We’ve seen children who put on the appliance and immediately have a rush of mucus come out of their noses because their airways are finally in the proper position. These children are seeing a lifetime of benefits: better health, better scholastic performance, better athletic performance, better employment opportunities… You can’t put a price on that.”
Learn more by visiting www.myowaycenters.com or calling (724) 765-0001.