The abnormal and pathologic conditions of the teeth causing nasal obstruction and disturbance may be considered under: 1. Nasal or antral irregularities with secondary lesions of the teeth. 2. Irregularities in formation of the alveolar process, allowing the teeth to penetrate into the antral or nasal cavities, thus permitting the extension of diseased processes.
There is an important relation between stomatology and rhinology. The entire superior maxilla, both as to formation and structure, is dependent on and controlled by nasal lesions in early childhood while the facial bones are flexible and of partly cartilaginous union. Mouth-breathing, particularly during sleep, through increased external pressure both by the air—the internal resistance being lessened—and by the muscular action in attempts at nasal breathing, contracts the arch, causes irregularity in the teeth and a characteristic droop to the nose. The nasal orifice thus narrowed persists even after the cause of the mouth-breathing is removed