Are You Looking for a Pediatric ENT?
Few things are more important than a child’s ability to hear and to speak. When your young infant or child suffers with endless earaches and sinus problems, the search for a solution can be essential. From finding advice about an endoscopic sinus surgery to getting recommendations about a vocal cord surgery, finding the right doctor who can provide the most effective treatment can help you find the solutions and treatments that you need.
Although hearing problems with a young child can be scary, some conditions can be fixed if they addressed soon enough. An endoscopic sinus surgery, for instance, can address both speech and breathing problems. Ear, nose, and throat specialists can help families deal with a variety of issues that are problematic for even the youngest of children.
If you are the parent of a child who suffers from sinus infections or other ear nose and throat problems in children and adolescents you know how stressful these situations can be. Missed school for your child and missed work for you are the immediate concerns, but concerns about future hearing and speaking are even more concerning. Finding the right doctor, or group of doctors, can help you understand the possible treatments and make a plan.
It is important to make sure that you understand the latest treatment options. For instance, while it may have been common to take tonsils out for a specific reason 10 to 15 years ago, that option is not always as typical as it used to be. In fact, 30 years ago as many as 90% of tonsillectomies in children were done for recurrent infection. Today, however, this procedure is now used about only 20% of the time for infection. The remaining 80% of tonsillectomies are for obstructive sleep problems (OSA).
Finding a doctor and a clinic that understand the latest treatments for ailments that can affect both hearing and speech is important. Consider some of these statistics:
- 10% of children snore regularly and about 2% to 4 % of the pediatric population has Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). In some cases, an airway reconstruction procedure can help alleviate the breathing difficulties that lead to this condition.
- 90% of all children will have at least one ear infection by two years of age.
- Endoscopic sinus surgery is performed to eliminate blockages that can cause sinusitis, a condition where the sinus mucous membranes swell and become blocked. This swelling can cause drainage, pain, and impaired breathing.
- Children with enlarged tonsils are 3.7 times as likely to experience symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing than those without enlarged tonsils.
- 12% of children in the general population snore, making it a fairly very common condition.
- 300-400,000 tonsillectomies are performed every year in children and adolescents, according to recent government numbers reports.
