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Good Morning,

You look at tongues, palates, jaws, and faces all day long. But what if you’ve been seeing airway dysfunction—and just didn’t know it?

This week’s Airway & Wellness Masterclass issue is about connecting anatomy to action. Dr. Bennett walks through what structures matter most in sleep screening—and why so many dentists hesitate to act. Plus, Cathy shares how something as simple as mouth breathing can become a whole-body stress signal.

In Today’s Issue:

• What structural and soft-tissue signs reveal about airway risk

• How to start using CBCT, facial posture, and oral volume as clues

• Dr. Bennett’s dissertation insight: What “counts” for referral—and why many dentists feel unsure

• Cathy’s perspective: Mouth breathing isn’t just airflow—it’s nervous system overload

• Action step: Add one airway-related structure to your patient documentation this week

  5-minute read👇

Clinical Corner

🥼Use the clinical corner as your secret weapon to impress your colleagues and patients!

Key Takeaways🔑

Anatomy = Clues. You Already Have the Tools.

Most dentists notice the signs long before a patient gets diagnosed with a sleep disorder:

• Scalloped tongue

• Enlarged tonsils

• Narrow, vaulted palate

• Anterior tongue tie

• Retruded jaw or Class II profile

• Flattened facial profile in kids

• Forward head posture

What we don’t always know is what to do with those signs.

That’s where Dr. Bennett’s PhD research sheds light.

From Dr. Bennett’s Dissertation

Many of the dentists Dr. Bennett interviewed said the same thing:

What they needed wasn’t just permission—it was clarity.

So here’s a clinical takeaway:

Cathy’s Corner: Why Mouth Breathing = Stress Breathing

We often treat mouth breathing as an orthodontic or habit issue. But chronically breathing through the mouth keeps the body in sympathetic overdrive—activating the fight-or-flight nervous system and making deep sleep harder to reach.

That’s why mouth breathing is linked to:

• Poor healing

• Clenching and TMJ symptoms

• Emotional reactivity and anxiety (especially in kids)

• Delayed growth and immune suppression

Business of Sleep

Simple Charting Shift This Week:

Add one of the following to your patient note template:
Tongue posture
Tonsil grading
Facial profile or nasal breathing note
Palate shape or vaulting

This tiny change does two things:

1. Helps your team build awareness and pattern recognition

2. Creates documentation that supports collaboration and referrals

Bonus tip: Take consistent airway-focused photos at hygiene or ortho starts.

Something Sweet

🍭Stuff so sweet you might get a cavity..

CE Opportunities / Events

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Miscellaneous

😅P.S. … From Dr. Bennett & Cathy:
You don’t need to master all of airway anatomy overnight. You just need to start seeing what you already look at—with a different lens. That’s when dentistry becomes life-changing.

🔁 Share this issue with a colleague who's ready to see more than teeth.

— Dr. Michael & Cathy Bennett
More Than Teeth | A Mission for Generational Health