Pediatric ear, nose and throat
Pediatric ear, nose and throat (ENT) doctors focus on the treatment of conditions like hearing loss, allergies and infections in children. ENTs can also treat issues with swallowing and breathing caused by growths or other obstructions to the airway.
Pediatric otolaryngology in Denver
We help your child's senses prevail so they can hear, breathe and speak more clearly.
Our ear, nose and throat (ENT) teams in the HCA HealthONE Physicians network specialize in hearing and breathing issues, as well as other sensory limitations in children. We aim to provide greater comfort and functionality.
Related specialties
Learn more about our related specialties.
ENT conditions we treat
Our pediatric otolaryngologists have the experience and knowledge to treat a wide range of common and rare ENT conditions in children. Some conditions we treat include:
- Adenoiditis
- Adenoid hypertrophy
- Ankyloglossia (tongue-tie)
- Branchial cleft cysts
- Breathing problems
- Chronic ear disease
- Cleft lip
- Cleft palate
- Epistaxis (nosebleeds)
- Head and neck vascular malformations
- Hearing loss
- Hoarseness
- Hypernasal speech
- Laryngopharyngeal reflux
- Nasal deformities
- Nasal obstruction
- Neck tumors
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Otitis media
- Sinusitis
- Tonsillitis
- Tonsil hypertrophy
- Vocal cord paralysis
Services provided by our pediatric ENT specialists
Through a series of tests and procedures, our specialists aim to accurately diagnose and treat conditions that affect your child's ears, nose, throat and neck.
Pediatric audiology services
Using evidence-based practices and state-of-the-art equipment, we strive to help your child if they have hearing difficulties ranging from mild hearing loss to profoundly deaf and hard of hearing. Our pediatric audiology services include:
- Developmentally appropriate behavioral testing
- Fitting for hearing aids and assistive listening devices
- Follow-up diagnostic hearing evaluations for babies who didn't pass their newborn hearing test
Physiological auditory tests
Our audiologists have various hearing assessments they use to measure how well parts of your child's ear are functioning. These evaluations are a good indicator of your child's hearing. Assessments include:
- Acoustic reflex decay testing — a tool that measures how well a reflex contraction holds or weakens over time
- Acoustic reflex threshold — a test used to check the functioning of your child's acoustic reflex, which is triggered by loud noises
- Auditory brainstem response (ABR) — an evaluation method used to assess how a child’s hearing nerve responds to different sounds
- Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) test — a diagnostic test that assesses how well your child's cochlea (inner ear) is working
- Tympanometry — a tool used to assess the middle eardrum and bones using air pressure
After our pediatric audiology teams perform a hearing evaluation, we can create a treatment plan or provide referrals to medical providers if necessary. We also advocate for your child by connecting them with community resources and appropriate professionals. These partnerships include audiologists, aural habilitation therapists, speech therapists, early intervention specialists and teachers.
Auditory brainstem response (ABR)
ABR is a tool that can determine how your child’s hearing nerve responds to different sounds. Our test is completed by using nonintrusive electrodes on simple sticky pads. We will carefully place these pads on your child’s head to measure a brain wave in response to sounds presented to your child through earphones. The electrodes are connected to a computer to determine the presence of the brain waves responsible for hearing. We test at various volumes, including the quietest level at which the wave appears. The ABR test takes approximately two hours from start to finish.
We combine your child’s ABR test results with other measures, so we can determine the level of hearing loss your child has. It is crucial to prepare your loved one for the test ahead of time.
Our suggestions to help ensure a smooth ABR test are as follows:
- Bring someone with you to sit in the back of the car and keep your child awake.
- If possible, don’t bring siblings or other young children along to the appointment due to the long test time required.
- If siblings do accompany you to the appointment, please bring another adult so they may play in the waiting room.
- Once you’re in the testing room and your child has been prepped for the test, you can nurse or feed your baby, so they fall asleep naturally.
- The test will take place in a quiet room while your child sleeps in your arms or in a car seat.
- Wait to feed your child until you arrive at the appointment.
Cochlear implants
A cochlear implant is a small electronic neuroprosthesis that's surgically implanted to help offer the profoundly deaf a sense of sound. Our cochlear implant team consists of otolaryngologists, audiologists, social workers and auditory verbal therapists to ensure your child is supported during their transition.
Benefits of an assistive listening device
Although cochlear implants aren't always the right choice, they might be an option if your child has:
- Auditory neuropathy and don't benefit from traditional amplification
- Hearing loss in one or both ears
- Inner-ear hearing loss and don't show enough benefit from traditional amplification such as hearing aids
Procedures for ENT conditions
Our pediatric ENT specialists treat a wide spectrum of conditions affecting the ears, nose, larynx, pharynx and neck. Several of these surgical procedures can be treated with a minimally invasive approach, meaning they’re performed through smaller incisions and instruments than traditional surgeries. This technique results in less scarring, less pain and a quicker recovery for your child.
Ear procedures we provide include:
- Bilateral myringotomy with tubes (BMT) — the insertion of ear tubes, typically to treat chronic ear infections
- Bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA) — surgically implanted hearing device
- Cochlear implantation — a procedure to implant a small hearing device for patients who are profoundly deaf or severely hard of hearing
- Endoscopic ear surgery — using a small camera inserted through the ear canal to help the ENT surgeon get a more detailed view during a surgical procedure
- Fat-graft myringoplasty — procedure to repair a perforated (ruptured) eardrum
- Mastoidectomy — a procedure to remove diseased air cells from the mastoid bone
- Otoplasty — reconstructive or cosmetic ear surgery
- Tympanoplasty — eardrum perforation repair surgery, also called a paper patch
Nose procedures we provide include:
- Adenoidectomy — surgery to remove the adenoid glands behind the nose
- Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak repair — a procedure to stop CSF leaking by entering through the nostrils
- Choanal atresia repair — a procedure to fix nasal tissue blocking or narrowing the airway
- Eustachian tube dilation — a minimally invasive procedure to open the Eustachian tube, the passageway connecting the throat and middle ear
- Excision of nasal masses — removal of nasal tumors
- Foreign body removal — removal of objects stuck inside the nostril
- Limited rhinoplasty — surgery to change or reconstruct the shape of the nose bone
- Nasal perforation repair — a procedure to repair a fissure or hole in the septum
- Septoplasty — a procedure to right the septum, the bony/cartilaginous wall between the nostrils
- Sinus and extend sinus surgery — most commonly done to treat chronic sinus infections
- Skull base surgery — specialized surgery often used to remove tumors by entering through the nostrils
- Turbinate reduction — surgery to shrink turbinate to open airways and improve breathing
Larynx procedures we offer include:
- Arytenoidectomy — permanent surgery to widen the entrance to the trachea
- Bronchoscopy — a procedure to look into the airways with an instrument inserted via the mouth or nose
- Endoscopic balloon dilation — widening the trachea by expanding a balloon inserted via an endoscope
- Esophagoscopy — an examination of the esophagus using a long thin instrument with a light and camera
- Laryngocleft repair — a procedure to fix a gap between the larynx and trachea
- Laryngoscopy — a procedure to view the voice box, vocal cords and throat using a long, tiny device inserted into the mouth
- Laryngotracheal reconstruction — surgery to widen the trachea (windpipe) to improve breathing
- Supraglottoplasty — surgery to repair the upper larynx to improve breathing
Pharynx procedures we perform include:
- Excision of ranula — removal of a cyst from beneath the tongue
- Lingual tonsillectomy — removing the bulk of the tonsils to improve breathing, often used to help with sleep disorders like sleep apnea
- Pharyngeal flap — when tissue from the back of the throat is used to repair the soft palate and improve airflow when speaking
- Sphincter pharyngoplasty — surgery to repair the function of the soft palate
- Tongue reduction — a procedure to reduce the size of the tongue while maintaining regular tongue functioning
- Tongue suspension — surgery to keep the back of the tongue from obstructing your airway
- Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy — surgical removal of tonsils and adenoids
- Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty — a procedure to widen the throat by removing excess tissue
Neck procedures we perform include:
- Excision of masses or cysts — removal of growths in the neck
- Neck dissection — major surgery to remove lymph nodes that have become cancerous
- Parotidectomy — surgery to remove a tumor of the largest salivary gland
- Salivary gland removal — surgery to remove the submandibular salivary gland because of a tumor, stone or infection
- Thyroidectomy — a procedure to remove all or part of the thyroid gland
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