Functional & Airway Dentistry for Children in Winnipeg
We help children breathe, speak, sleep, and eat the way they were built to — by measuring how the mouth works and treating what we find at the source.
Snoring, mouth breathing, unclear speech, and picky eating often share one origin: how the tongue rests, how the jaw grew, and how a child breathes. All of it can be measured, and all of it can change.
Breathe Institute – trained dentist · Tongue-Tied Academy · RDH orofacial myofunctional therapists
Signs worth measuring
Sleep & breathing Mouth breathing, day or night. Snoring or gasping sounds during sleep. Restless sleep with frequent tossing and turning. Waking up tired, or morning headaches. Dark circles despite a full night's sleep. Bedwetting past age 6–7.
Speech & eating Speech sounds that resist correction — especially R, L, and S. Slow, messy, or picky eating. Gagging with certain textures. Chewing with the mouth open. Mealtimes that exhaust everyone.
Growth & habits Crowded teeth or narrow arches. A long, narrow facial pattern. Forward head posture. Thumb or finger habits that won't resolve. Grinding at night. Chronically chapped lips and dry mouth.
A cluster of these signs usually tells a story, and the story is measurable. That is what an assessment is for.
What's actually going on
The tongue is the scaffold the upper jaw grows against. Resting high against the palate, breathing through the nose, it shapes a broad arch and an open airway. Resting low — because of a restriction, a habit, or a blocked nose — it lets the palate narrow, the airway follow, and the body compensate: mouth breathing, effortful sleep, altered speech, careful eating. None of these are character traits. They are mechanics, and mechanics can be measured, understood, and changed.
Function changes chemistry, too. A mouth that breathes through the lips dries out, and a dry mouth shifts the bacteria living in it — which is why the same child so often has chapped lips, bad breath, and inflamed gums alongside the snoring.
That is functional dentistry: treating how the mouth works, not only how it looks. Teeth that are repaired while the mouth still breathes, rests, and swallows the wrong way will keep producing the same problems — so we start with function.
How we help
1. Airway and function assessment. A structured exam of breathing, tongue rest posture, range of motion, swallow pattern, and sleep screening — plus, where a documented baseline will help, a Bristle saliva test of the mouth's bacterial balance. Findings are explained plainly, with a clear recommendation. If function is within normal limits, we tell you so.
2. Retraining. When patterns need to change, our registered dental hygienist therapists deliver guided myofunctional therapy — structured exercises that retrain tongue posture, breathing, and swallowing over a series of visits.
3. Release, when indicated. When a true restriction is limiting function, Dr. Weselake performs a tongue-tie release in-house — built into a three-visit program for children ages 5–12, with therapy before and after.
4. Co-management. When a child needs palatal expansion, orthodontics, ENT care, or speech-language therapy, we coordinate with trusted Winnipeg providers and remain the quarterback of the plan — one assessment, one direction, no gaps between offices.
Myofunctional Therapy
Guided exercises with our registered dental hygienist therapists that retrain tongue posture, breathing, and swallowing — the foundation of every functional plan.
→ Explore myofunctional therapy
Tongue-Tie Release
A three-visit release program for children ages 5–12 — assessment, in-house release, and follow-up — for restrictions that therapy alone can't move.
→ Explore tongue-tie release
Ages 5 to 12, when ready
Our program is built around children ages 5 to 12 — old enough to participate in the exercises that make treatment hold, and in the growing years when patterns still change readily. Readiness matters as much as age: it is measured at the first visit, and if a child isn't ready yet, we prepare them until they are. For infants and toddlers with feeding concerns, start with your lactation consultant and physician — call us and we'll point you toward the right support.
Our team
Dr. John Weselake, DMD — advanced airway and tongue-tie training through The Breathe Institute (Dr. Soroush Zaghi) and the Tongue-Tied Academy. Dr. Weselake personally performs every release at Biosmiles.
Kelly S. and Rebecca M. are registered dental hygienists trained through RDHU, MyoMentor, and MasteringMyo — the same clinicians who deliver the Gentle Swiss Clean™, which means your child's function and hygiene are watched by the same eyes, visit after visit.
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Dentistry that treats how the mouth works — breathing, tongue posture, swallowing, and jaw growth — rather than only repairing teeth. Structure and function shape each other; we assess both.
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An assessment settles it either way, and that is a better plan than waiting to find out. Habits sometimes fade on their own; patterns usually persist, and they shape how the face and airway grow while they do.
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We assess for expansion and co-manage it with trusted orthodontic providers. Our in-house focus is the assessment, the retraining, and release when indicated — with one coordinated plan across every provider involved.
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Many families come to us directly, with no referral needed. We also regularly work alongside speech-language pathologists, physicians, and other dentists, and we return every referred patient with documented findings.
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Our program is built for children ages 5 to 12. Younger children are assessed and prepared until they're ready. For infants, start with your lactation consultant and physician.
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It depends on what the assessment finds, and it is reviewed with you in full before anything further is booked. We are a non-assignment practice: payment at the time of treatment, with full documentation provided to submit to your plan.
Measure it.
A one-hour myofunctional assessment answers the question every parent on this page is asking: is this something, or nothing? Either way, you'll know — plainly, and with a plan.
Serving Winnipeg and communities across Manitoba, including Steinbach, Winkler, Morden, Niverville, Headingley, Portage la Prairie, and Brandon.