Paediatric ENT Surgery
Grommets
Grommet insertion is performed in hospital under day-case general anaesthesia, and is an effective treatment of hearing loss caused by glue ear (can present with behavioural issues, poor attention, speech delay or hearing concerns) and recurrent middle ear infections.
Tonsillectomy
Removal of the tonsils+/- adenoids is the surgical treatment for recurrent tonsillitis, snoring and sleep disordered breathing. Children should not snore, and in addition to the noise of snoring, sleep disordered breathing can present with restless sleep, behavioural problems, bed wetting, night time waking, poor concentration, teeth grinding, problems swallowing meat and pauses in breathing during sleep.
Untreated prolonged snoring and sleep disordered breathing in children impairs neurocognitive development (intelligence and memory), and can cause heart and lung problems in severe cases.
For some of the other procedures performed in treating children see ear surgery and sinus and nasal surgery.