Episode 175

What if your child’s mouth breathing, restless sleep, or even focus issues weren’t behavioral—but biological?

In this eye-opening episode, I sit down with a pediatric airway dentist to explore the critical (and often overlooked) role of airway health in childhood development. We talk about how things like tongue ties, narrow palates, and poor oral posture can impact sleep, behavior, and even long-term health—and why early intervention matters.

If you’ve ever been told “they’ll grow out of it,” or felt dismissed when raising concerns about your child’s breathing or sleep, this conversation is for you.

In this episode, we cover:

The difference between traditional and airway-focused dentistry
How mouth breathing can lead to misdiagnoses like ADHD or anxiety
Signs parents can look for at home
What treatment and support can look like
Why airway health is a foundational part of whole-child wellness

This episode is full of insight, practical takeaways, and encouragement for parents who want to better understand what’s going on beneath the surface of their child’s symptoms.

Dr. Hilary’s Bio: Dr. Hilary Fritsch is a leading airway and biological dentist, one of the very few in the country with deep expertise in proper jaw development and airway health. She is also Montana’s premier Toothpillow provider, offering cutting-edge, nonsurgical techniques to optimize airway growth and function.

Practicing dentistry since 2006, Dr. Fritsch has been featured on The Today Show (NBC), New York Magazine, Business Insider, Pop Sugar, Fatherly, and Romper. Her passion for wellness is deeply personal—shaped by her own struggles with childhood sleep apnea and a debilitating autoimmune disease that once impaired her ability to see and even walk unassisted. These experiences fuel her commitment to helping patients and their families optimize their health through airway-focused dentistry.

Dr. Fritsch is the founder of Western Sleep Solutions and Saddle Peak Dental, both rooted in the philosophy that oral health is intricately connected to whole-body health. She specializes in nonsurgical airway development and the treatment of sleep apnea, breathing disorders, and orthodontic issues that impact long-term wellness.

Determined to bring the best possible care to her patients, Dr. Fritsch has trained under one of the most elite airway dentists in the world and continuously pursues advanced education in airway-aware orthodontics, occlusion, and oral microbiome health. She is an active member of the International Academy of Sleep and other leading organizations dedicated to uncovering the root causes of airway dysfunction.

Dr. Fritsch is passionate about educating and empowering her patients—both young and old—to take ownership of their health, breathing, and longevity.

Quick Note Before We Begin:

If you get curious during this episode about the palate expander device we mention, head to toothpillow.com and use the code LORIBETH to receive a free video consultation with a trained airway dentist—a $50 value—plus $200 off the cost of treatment.

That’s toothpillow.com, code LORIBETH

In this episode:

What is airway dentistry?
Sleep apnea
Small airway issues
It’s personal…Hilary’s mom died from sleep apnea
Jaw and palette development
Poor oxygenation
Insurance – is airway dentistry covered or not?
Get the ortho package for dental insurance
Palette expansion options
Toothpillow
Signs to look for: dark circles under the eyes, crowded teeth, baby teeth are crowded if they are touching, mouth breathing, teeth grinding, bed wetting, hyperactivity, adhd like symptoms, chronic ear aches, sleepy/tired during the day, chronic throat or sinus infections, nightmares, frequent waking at night, and cavities (among others)
The tongue is the architect of the face
Behavior problems and airway issues
Our (positive!) personal experiences with Toothpillow
Who should parents seek out for pediatric airway dentistry help?
The failure rate of braces
Finding a pediatric dentist in the emerging field of airway dentistry
The unnecessary removal of tonsils and adenoids and teeth
Normalizing the dysfunction by removing tonsils, adenoids, and teeth
Proper tongue posture
Diaphragm pumps lymph
Stagnation in the sinuses
Getting to the root cause of why we’re having chronic health issues
Taking a holistic approach
Is it too late for my kid?
Going to the dentist (for parents) is such a heavy
Mom guilt about dental issues in our kids
Tongue ties
Newborn tongue tie revisions
Myofunctional therapists
When will dental schools catch up with airway dentistry?
Conventional views of airway health