Adenoids are a mass of lymphoid tissue located at the back of the nasal cavity, in the posterior wall of the nasopharynx, with an orange petal-like surface. Adenoids begin to grow and grow by the age of 2 to 6 years and shrink and become smaller by the age of 8 to 10 years. In this process, if the stimulation of inflammatory factors such as upper respiratory tract infection repeatedly occurs, pathological hyperplasia occurs, resulting in symptoms such as snoring and mouth breathing, which is called adenoid hypertrophy.
Children will have a series of symptoms such as nasal congestion, persistent runny nose, mouth breathing, sleep snoring, sleep disturbance, etc., and in severe cases, it will also affect hearing, and symptoms such as middle ear effusion and hearing loss will occur. If these symptoms persist without timely treatment, the child will gradually develop symptoms of sleep hypoxia, resulting in growth and development disorders and intellectual impairment. Long-term mouth breathing can also lead to maxillofacial bone development disorders, such as elongated jaws, high arched palatal bones, irregular teeth, protruding upper incisors, thick lips, upturned upper lips, and sluggish faces, which is the "adenoid face" that many parents are very concerned about.
Once an adenoid face is formed, it is difficult to recover and will seriously affect the child's appearance. Therefore, if children have symptoms of adenoid hypertrophy such as sleep snoring and mouth breathing, they should be treated in time to prevent the formation of adenoid facies. Electronic nasopharyngoscopy or lateral nasopharyngeal radiographs can clearly show the extent of adenoid hypertrophy blocking the posterior nostrils.
Pros and cons of adenoid surgery in children
Adenoids are one of the body's normal immune organs, so it has a certain immune defense function. If the adenoids are only slightly enlarged and there are no symptoms of airway obstruction such as sleep snoring and breath-holding, surgery is not required; Or if you only have mild snoring, symptoms only appear after a cold, and the medical history is short, it can be relieved by conservative medical treatment, and surgery is not required. Surgical resection of the adenoids should be considered only if the child has obvious symptoms, a long medical history, moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome, and no remission with conservative treatment.
Children with enlarged adenoids may experience sleep snoring, mouth breathing, and apnea (breath-holding), resulting in long-term chronic hypoxia at night, affecting the child's growth and development. Long-term mouth breathing can also lead to adenoid facialities, or complications that can lead to symptoms such as middle ear effusion and hearing loss. The advantage of the surgery is that it improves nasal ventilation, no longer needs to open the mouth to breathe at night, and helps the child develop a normal nasal breathing pattern. Stopping the mouth to breathe at night can also prevent the formation of adenoidal facies. Children with sleep breathlessness and apnea were corrected for nocturnal hypoxia after surgery, which had a good effect on the growth and intellectual development of the children. Similarly, recurrent rhinitis, sinusitis, otitis media and other related diseases caused by adenoidal hypertrophy will also be improved after adenoidectomy.
A short story
"Bucktooth Kid" goes to get his teeth straightened
The dentist actually asked him to go for sleep monitoring first
The neighbor's Xiaoliang is 6 years old, and he looked very cute when he was a child, and as he grows older, he has the posture of "being disabled". Finally, one day, Xiaoliang's mother decided to take him to get his teeth straightened in order to regain his lost face. But when they arrived at the pediatric dentistry, the doctor actually asked him to go for sleep monitoring first. Xiaoliang's mother was very puzzled, worried about whether the doctor had made a mistake.
It turns out that the "bucktooth kid" is not born with buckteeth, and repeated adenoid hypertrophy causes him to breathe with his mouth open for a long time, and gradually develops an adenoid face (crooked teeth, protruding upper incisors, thick lips, flattened nose, etc.). If the cause of mouth breathing does not improve, even if you are reluctant to straighten your teeth, not only will the effect be poor, but it will also be easy to recur. Once an adenoid face is formed, it is difficult to recover. Early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment of adenoid hypertrophy are very important, and overnight sleep monitoring is the "gold standard" for diagnosing whether adenoid hypertrophy causes obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Source: Healthy China
Editor: Han Jiayi