I want to wish everyone who reads this blog a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR. May 2016 be a year filled with Peace, Love, Happiness, and much Success. I hope that we can all make a difference in this world ... help more people, show more kindness, show more awareness, and may 2016 be the year that all the fighting and hatred in our world turns around to make way for Peace, safety, and security. OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!! On the dental front I would like to let everyone know that my new office is up and running, and filled with light and good feelings. The address is 3080 Yonge Street, suite 3030, Toronto, Ontario M4N 3N1. The main phone number is 416-770-8526, emergency cell phone number after hours is 416-400-2785, and you can reach us by email at drmartyfrankel@rogers.com AIRWAY IS KING: I have been studying about the dental management of Sleep Breathing Disorders for the last 5 years or so. It is interesting that most of us have never really thought about how intimately connected the mouth is to the upper airway. There are only 2 ways of moving air in and out of the body, and those are the nose or the mouth. I am currently reading an excellent book titled The Oxygen Advantage. In this book the importance of nose breathing is highlighted. The following is a list of many reasons that NOSE BREATHING is so beneficial: 1) More oxygen uptake - 2) Nose breathing warms and humidifies the air that enters our body 3) The nose filters germs and bacteria from the air we breathe 4) Nose breathing improves the benefits we receive from the excercise we do 5) The nose is a reservoir for Nitric Oxide ... this is a gas that is essential for the maintenance of good health In previous blog posts I have discussed the benefit of nasal breathing to the proper development of the oral cavity and the face in general. The above 5 reasons are just a few of the many benefits to breathing through the nose. Dental development can have a huge impact on our ability to breathe through our nose, and our ability to breathe through our nose can have a huge impact on the proper development of our oral cavity. Just one more thought ... we can live without food for at least a few weeks, we can live without water for a few days, BUT we can only live without air for a few minutes. Breathing and its effect on our health is of extreme importance to all of us. I wish you all a wonderful 2016. Dr. Marty Frankel