Airway Medicine, Reimagined
Scroll
A multidisciplinary airway institute — uniting surgery, orthodontics, plastic surgery, myofunctional therapy, and metabolic medicine beneath a single roof. One practice, one integrated team, one coordinated plan for every patient.
Airway dysfunction is rarely a single problem. It is a cascade — anatomy, habit, and development compounding over years. A narrow palate shaped by a tethered tongue. A deviated septum that became a mouth-breathing habit. Enlarged tonsils that fragmented a child's sleep. Each condition feeds the next.
Treating one piece in isolation almost always fails. That is why the Breathe Well Institute exists — to bring the surgeon, the orthodontist, the plastic surgeon, the myofunctional therapist, and the physician under one roof, into one conversation, around one coordinated plan.
Dr. Graves is a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon, founder of Amarillo Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, and founding director of the Breathe Well Institute. He has practiced full-scope oral and maxillofacial surgery in Amarillo since 2008 and maintains a faculty position at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine.
He earned his DMD from the University of Louisville in 2004 and completed his oral and maxillofacial surgical residency at the University of Tennessee–Memphis. He is a Diplomate of the American Dental Society of Anesthesiology and a Fellow of both the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the American College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.
Dr. Graves founded the Institute after a decade of seeing airway patients fall through the cracks between specialties. "The surgeon did the release. The orthodontist did the expansion. The therapist did the retraining. But no one was doing them together." The Breathe Well Institute was built to finally change that.
Read the full biography →Eight interrelated areas of airway care — each a piece of the same underlying anatomy. Addressed together, not separately.
Every procedure is performed with the precision instruments and imaging the discipline demands — on site, by the specialists who use them every day.
In-house cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) for precise, low-dose three-dimensional evaluation of the airway, maxillofacial skeleton, and sinuses. Every treatment plan begins with a true 3D picture.
CO₂ and diode laser surgery for frenectomy and soft-tissue procedures — minimally invasive, exceptional precision, faster healing with less bleeding than conventional techniques.
Palatal expansion (RPE and MARPE), skeletal correction, and airway-first orthodontic treatment for growing children and adults — integrated with the rest of the team from day one.
Infant through adult frenectomy performed with laser precision — restoring tongue mobility and the foundation for normal airway, feeding, and speech development.
Miniscrew-assisted rapid palatal expansion for adolescents and adults — widening the maxilla, opening the nasal airway, and creating the space the tongue needs to function properly.
Septoplasty, functional rhinoplasty, and turbinate reduction performed by our board-certified plastic surgeon — restoring the nasal airway that drives healthy breathing.
Each specialty exists on staff — not by referral, not on call. This allows patients to move seamlessly between experts without ever leaving the building, without conflicting advice, and without being the one carrying the treatment plan between providers.
Frenectomy, palatal expansion surgery, and hard- and soft-tissue work of the airway complex. The foundational surgical discipline.
RPE, MARPE, and skeletal correction — airway-first treatment planning for patients of every age.
Board-certified plastic surgeon performing septoplasty, functional rhinoplasty, and turbinate reduction on site.
Tongue posture and swallow retraining — the behavioral counterpart that makes every surgical result durable.
Integrated weight management and metabolic evaluation — recognizing airway as a whole-body condition.
Close collaboration with pediatricians, pediatric dentists, SLPs, and lactation consultants in your community.
The Institute is growing. Dr. Graves leads the founding clinical team, with additional specialists announced as each discipline joins the Amarillo flagship.
Airway care is measurable. Width. Volume. Range of motion. Every protocol at the Institute is grounded in peer-reviewed literature and documented outcomes.
Values reflect means reported in the cited literature. Individual outcomes vary by anatomy, age, suture maturation, compliance with post-operative protocols, and adjunct therapies.
A comprehensive airway evaluation with our coordinating physician — history, imaging, and screening.
Your case is reviewed together by the full team at weekly conference — not in isolation by one provider.
A single coordinated treatment sequence across disciplines — presented to you together.
Treatment happens under one roof, with detailed progress reports to your referring provider.
The questions we hear most from new patients and referring providers. If you don't see yours answered here, please reach out — we're happy to have a conversation before you schedule.
Every journey begins with a conversation. We'd be honored to start yours.