When I go to the hospital clinic, I always meet many parents who bring their children to see the doctor. It is said that children always snore when they sleep and sleep with their mouths open. After examination, many children are found to be caused by enlarged tonsils and adenoids. So today we will talk about why tonsil and adenoid hypertrophy cause sleep snoring at night.
The fact that the child sleeps at night and snoring indicates that the breathing channel of the child is not smooth when the child sleeps, and the fattening of the tonsils and adenoids blocks the airway. So first of all, let's take a look at where the tonsils and adenoids are, because many parents may not really know the tonsils and adenoids.
Tonsils, which are relatively familiar to everyone, are located in the triangular tonsillar fossa surrounded by the palatal tongue arch and the palateopharyngeal arch on both sides of the oropharynx, which are colloquially speaking, two small balls on both sides of the small tongue. The tonsils are the lymphoid tissue of the pharynx, and the lymphoid tissue hyperplasia occurs at 3-5 years of age, and the tonsils can show physiological hypertrophy and gradually atrophy after middle age.
Adenoids, also known as pharyngeal tonsils, proliferators, are located at the back and top of the nasopharynx, colloquially speaking, in the innermost part of the nasal cavity. The adenoids are also the lymphoid tissue of the pharynx, which proliferates vigorously at the age of 2-6 years, gradually atrophises after the age of ten, and most of the adults disappear.
Both the tonsils and the adenoids are on the passage of breathing, and the hypertrophy of both of them is like two big fat people huddled in the corridor aisle, occupying the wide passage and becoming very crowded, resulting in poor breathing. Adenoidal hypertrophy blocks the nose, causing the nose to be unobstructed, and children have nasal congestion and sleep with their mouths open. Enlarged tonsils block the throat, which, together with the adenoids, cause small children to sleep and snore, breathe with their mouths open, and even hold their breath when snoring.