Dr. Kalli Hale didn’t initially set out to specialize in airway dentistry. After years of practicing general dentistry, she began exploring the biologic dental space, where she started to see how closely oral health is connected to the rest of the body. “Learning how dentistry and the mouth affect the entire body changed my life,” she says. A lecture on expansive orthodontics and sleep-disordered breathing soon followed, shifting her focus entirely and sparking a passion that would define her career.
Thousands of hours of additional training later, Dr. Hale has gone on to lecture nationally and internationally, train hundreds of dentists, and help expand The Airway Dentists with locations in Houston, Austin, and soon Dallas–Fort Worth. “Our mission is simple,” she says. “We want to help eliminate sleep-disordered breathing through individualized orthodontic care.”
Simply put, airway dentistry looks at how the mouth, jaws, tongue, and airway work together, and how those structures can affect everything from childhood development to adult sleep quality.
What Airway Health Actually Means
At its core, airway health is about breathing, especially during sleep. “We want to ensure that both children and adults grow into nasal-breathing adults,” Dr. Hale says.
Breathing through the nose provides significant physiological advantages. “You actually get more oxygen to your brain when you breathe through your nose compared to mouth breathing.”
When airway issues go undetected, the consequences can range from mild to serious. “Sometimes it’s as simple as waking up stuffy,” she explains. “But in more severe cases, airway obstruction can contribute to major health issues,” which is why she believes sleep testing is important for adults.
“Every adult should have a sleep study at some point in their life to rule out obstructive sleep apnea. Even if you think you sleep well, you may not be aware of what’s happening to your oxygen levels at night.”
Straight Teeth Are Only Part of the Picture
For Dr. Hale, the starting point is simple: traditional orthodontics often focuses on alignment, but airway dentistry asks deeper questions about why teeth became crowded in the first place.
“Straight teeth are only part of the picture,” Dr. Hale explains. “Crowding often happens because a child’s jaws didn’t grow wide or forward enough.” Instead of just moving teeth around within a limited space, airway orthodontics focuses on expanding the structure of the mouth itself.
“Traditional orthodontics sometimes treats crowding by moving teeth within a limited space and by occasionally using extractions or pulling teeth backward,” she says. “Airway orthodontics focuses on why that space was limited to begin with.”
The goal is to expand the jaws forward and outward to make room not only for teeth but also for the tongue and airway. “When we create proper space in the jaws, we’re creating a stable foundation that supports breathing, sleep, and long-term health.”
At the Airway Dentists, they believe that muscle drives bone growth and that jaws can only expand properly when the muscles are working correctly. They’re all about solving the root cause of a patient’s issues; crowding happens when the tongue sits low in the mouth and can’t rest against the roof of the mouth.
And as Dr. Hale points out, “the solution is retraining the muscles, improving swallowing patterns, and ensuring there are no restricted issues (such as tongue ties) to make expansion predictable and long-lasting.”
The Patients Who Often Walk Through the Door
Over time, awareness of airway health has grown and Dr. Hale says the patient base reflects that. “Some patients come in knowing they have an airway problem. Others simply want to be screened to make sure they don’t.”
“With kids, we often see crowded teeth, mouth breathing, or restless sleep,” she says. “These patterns can be linked to sleep-disordered breathing and early screening can make a big difference. When we intervene early, we can guide growth in a healthier direction before those patterns become long-term problems.”
Adults, on the other hand, often arrive with an entirely different set of symptoms.
“Adults and teens may come in with snoring, chronic fatigue, jaw tension, or a history of extractions,” Dr. Hale says. “Even though adult jaws don’t grow the same way children’s do, bone can still remodel with the right treatment approach to improve the airway.”
Signs & Symptoms for Children and Adults
For Children
Baby teeth touching or overlapping
Mouth breathing during the day or while sleeping
Snoring
Bite issues like crossbites or open bites
“One thing many parents don’t realize is that healthy baby teeth should actually have gaps between them,” Dr. Hale notes, “crowding that early can be a sign that the jaws aren’t developing properly.”
For Adults
High blood pressure
Daytime fatigue
Morning headaches
Frequent nighttime urination
Tooth grinding
Blood sugar or cortisol imbalance
“Many adults also come to us after years of dental work — crowns, cavities, grinding — without realizing airway health may be part of the underlying issue.”
Why Snoring Shouldn’t Be Ignored
One topic Dr. Hale is particularly passionate about is reframing how people think about snoring. “Snoring should always be taken seriously,” she says.
In her view, snoring should be assumed to be obstructive sleep apnea until proven otherwise. “The narrative around snoring needs to change,” she explains. “Just because your grandparents snored doesn’t mean it’s normal.”
A sleep study is the only way to determine what’s actually happening during the night. “If you snore, there’s a strong chance your breathing is being obstructed and your oxygen levels are being affected.”
One common topic in the airway space is the use of CPAP machines. While these machines are a well-known treatment for sleep apnea, they aren’t the only solution. Dr. Hale’s practice offers a variety of options depending on the patient’s needs.
“We use mandibular advancement devices that are worn at night to prevent the tongue from obstructing the airway,” she explains. Other treatments may include:
Invisalign to reposition teeth and improve airway space
Non-surgical expanders to widen the jaws
Myofunctional therapy to strengthen oral muscles
A Collaborative Approach
Because airway health intersects with so many areas of medicine, Dr. Hale works closely with a variety of specialists. This group ultimately determines if the study was positive for obstructive sleep apnea, or not. The care team often includes:
ENT physicians
Myofunctional therapists
Sleep physicians
Functional medicine doctors
Chiropractors
Speech pathologists
“It’s truly a collaborative process,” she says. “When everyone works together, the outcomes for patients can be life-changing.”
How to Get Started
For families or adults curious about airway health, Dr. Hale keeps the first step simple. “Make an appointment and get screened,” she says. “You don’t need a referral — just come in and start the conversation.”
To schedule an appointment, visit www.theairwaydentists.com or call 346-436-7767.
Bonus! Dr. Hale’s Perfect Houston Wellness Day
For Dr. Hale, a perfect wellness day in Houston starts simply with a little quiet time before the house wakes up. “My perfect day starts slowly with a little quiet time before my kids wake up, followed by breakfast together before school,” she says. From there, she fits in a morning workout and time reading her Bible or leadership books before heading into the office.
She structures her schedule intentionally, focusing her work during school hours so she can fully step back into family life in the afternoon. “I work hard during the school day and then switch back into ‘mom mode’ when I pick my kids up,” she explains. “Cooking dinner and sitting down for a healthy meal together is my favorite way to end the day.”
Looking for more local, real-life ways to support your health in Houston? That’s what we do at Woo — guides, people, and places that make wellness feel doable. Subscribe here for more!
We want to provide timely and relevant information to our readers. Have something you want us to cover? Want to partner? Send us an email at [email protected].