NOSE AND THROAT

Hokitika Guardian, 18 March 1932, Page 3

NOSE AND THROAT

SOME COMMON DEFECTS IN

CHILDREN

WELLINGTON, March 16

AH ordinary breathing should take place .through the nose, which is specially fitted to prepare the air for entrance •to the lungs, the walls of the nasa. oavity being damp and lined with hairs which collect dust and other impurities The germs of disease are held back and destroyed in the secretion of the nose. Air, therefore, which is breathed in through the nose enters .the lungs warm, moist, and free from dirt and germs. On the other hand, air taken by the mouth enters the lungs dry, cold, and laden with dust and germs, so that it irritates the throat, bronchial tubes, and 1 untrs. The mouth breather, therefore, is liable .to chronic sore throat, frequent colds and nasal catarrh, enlarged tonsils, bronchitis, poor chest expansion, and is more readily affected by such diseases a.s consumption, diphtheria, scarlet fever; mouth breathers tend to have highly arched narrow palates, causing interference with the growth and development of the jaws and resulting in irregularity and early .decay of the teeth. The nose also does not develop properly, the nostrils being pinched and it he bridge defective. MOUTH BREATHING.

Unhealthy conditions of the nose and s hrost are apt ,to result in deafness, which may be permanent, also in otliei ,»nr troubles such as earache and discharging ears owing to spread of inllamation to the middle ear.

Every effort, should be made to over mine the habit of mouth breathing i hildien by instruction in the propoi use <>f the handkerchief and bv breath ing exercises. If, however, there i actual obstruction in the nose ami tliroa an (operation may bo necessary -to re ■uove this prior to the use <>f these .•medial measures.

iManv children suffer from obstruct.', breathing due to abnormal conditions o the nose and throat. 'I he commones of these conditions is adenoids with « without enlarged tonsils. Adenoids iv iluc ito overgrowth of the .tissue situate at the hack of the naso-pharynx (tha space .at the back of the throat wine’ is the beginning of the respiratory P'S sage .and into which the cavities « the mouth and nose open.

The tonsils are fsitun-t-rd lon eith "i side of the throat where they may b seen as fishy protruberances. not !•'' enough under healthy conditions to obstruct free air entry into the respiratory passage. ADENOIDS. If overgrowth of adenoid tissue or o. 3