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Are Ear Tubes Really Needed?

Ear tubes – seems like there are a lot of children getting them, but just how necessary are they and how well do they work in terms of preventing future ear infections?

By the age of three, 70% of all children have experienced at least one ear infection, after all, it is the most common reason for visits to the pediatrician’s office. Like antibiotics, ear tubes treat the symptoms of ear infections, and not the cause, yet more than 500,000 children receive ear tubes each year, making it the most common surgery under general anesthesia for children.

Ear infections result when there is a build up of fluid in the middle ear. This is commonly the result of inadequate drainage by the Eustachian tubes, which are usually shorter and more horizontal in young children. The build up of fluid provides a fertile breeding ground for either a viral or a bacterial infection. Antibiotics have no effect at all on viral infections and recent research shows that repeated antibiotic usage for bacterial infections does not prevent the infections from recurring and may actually lead to repeat ear infections.

With repeated ear infections, a physician may recommend ear tubes as parents express concern about developmental delays and hearing loss. But, ear tubes are often rejected rather quickly after insertion, because the body views them as “foreigners” that should not be present.

So, what are the alternatives? Many in the health care field believe that the ingestion of cows’ milk and other dairy products lead to an increase in ear infections. It is true that breastfed babies tend to have fewer ear infections. Others have suggested a link between the use of pacifiers and recurrent ear infections.

Many noteworthy studies have focused on the role of chiropractic care in helping to eliminate chronic ear infections and the build up of fluid in the middle ear. In one such study, published in the Journal of Clinical Chiropractic Pediatrics, 332 children with chronic ear infections, ranging in age from 27 days to five years, were given a series of chiropractic adjustments. The results were impressive. In 80% the infection cleared within several days and the children were still infection-free 6 months later.

If your child has chronic ear infections, please consider bringing him or her in for an evaluation. Many children in our practice have experienced noticeable improvement in the frequency and duration of their ear infections following a series of gentle chiropractic adjustments – a fact that brings comfort to the parents as well as their child!