Signs Your Child Needs an ENT Specialist

Your ears, nose, and throat are not just parts of your head and face. They are part of many important ways your body functions, through your sense of hearing and smell, your ability to breathe, and how you digest food. Conditions that affect these parts of your body are very common, affecting people of all ages, but in many cases can be managed at home. If you’re a parent dealing with a child that has an illness affecting their ear, nose, or throat, over-the-counter treatments, bed rest, and other remedies are pretty common.

Sadly, those options are not always effective, and at some point, you’ll need to get your child to an otolaryngologist, or an ear, nose, and throat (ENT) specialist, which is what we do. To find out what signs you need to look for that indicate medical help for your child, let’s look at what we do, what conditions they treat, and what symptoms can tell you their help is needed. If you live in the Lake Oswego, Oregon, area, and your child is struggling with an ENT condition, our team of doctors at Lake Grove ENT can help treat what ails them.

What does an ENT do?

Though we work on ear, nose, and throat problems, this type of specialist is trained to manage several conditions affecting the head and neck, including mild, moderate, and severe illnesses. There are even unique forms of this branch of medicine, where an otolaryngologist can further specialize in rhinology (sinus and nasal conditions), laryngologist (throat issues), and audiologist (ear illnesses). 

What conditions do they treat?

We treat both children and adults alike for a wide range of medical conditions, including:

• Ear conditions: Infections, balance issues, hearing loss, tinnitus, and inner ear illnesses are among the problems we manage

• Nose conditions: We help with allergies, rhinitis, sinusitis, infections, blockages, and other conditions affecting your child’s nose
• Throat conditions: Our team manages illnesses like voice issues, swallowing difficulties, infections, and tonsillitis that can cause throat problems

 Other issues include different types of cancer, reflux issues, snoring, sleep apnea, nosebleeds, and hoarseness.

What symptoms indicate the need for an ENT?

Many signs of problems in this area can be managed with home care, but here are some indications your child needs our help:

1. Ear symptoms

If ear problems persist or worsen, leading to difficulty sleeping, ear pain, muffled or decreased hearing, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, ringing, and feeling fullness in the ear, your child needs our help.

2. Nose symptoms

Persistent or increasing difficulties with nosebleeds, vigorous nose blowing, nasal congestion, nasal discharges, fever, fatigue, coughing, and postnasal drip can indicate problems home care may not be able to resolve.

3. Throat symptoms

Continuous and escalating issues with swallowing problems, excess saliva, trouble eating, drooling, swollen glands, sore throat, bad breath, what coating on your child’s tonsils and throat, difficulty breathing, sleeping issues, dry throat, and loud noises when sleeping need our care.

It’s always a good feeling when you know you can treat your child for their basic medical needs, but if symptoms don’t change or worsen, let us help you and your child through whatever ails them. Make an appointment with the team at Lake Grove ENT today to get your child healthy.