Open mouth and therapy

[AMESS]

I'd like to know if having your mouth open actually affects therapy--and if so, in what way?

[bigdave36]

Doesn't hurt a bit with a full face mask. With a nasal mask it is like trying to fill a popped balloon.

[AMESS]

Not what I meant. If your mouth is open do u still get the value of therapy?

[Goofproof]

Not what I meant. If your mouth is open do u still get the value of therapy?

No, you are just fooling yourself,no-one else. Jim

[Pugsy]

Depends on if air is exiting the mouth (with nasal masks) or not. I can open my mouth with my nasal pillow mask on and machine on and stick out my tongue and even talk and not have the air exit my mouth.

If air is exiting the mouth with a nasal mask....it can impact therapy because the pressure in the airway is likely to be lessened...but how much of a negative impact there might be will depend on just how much air is exiting the mouth and how long it is doing it.

5 minutes is one thing and probably not a big deal even if massive...but 50 minutes might be a whole different story.
This is where it becomes critical that you understand the leak graphs your machine will give you. Don't go by the 95% leak numbers without looking at the graphs too...95% number will often mislead a person.
And a person can get massive dry mouth with as little as 5 or 10 minutes of mouth breathing...doesn't necessarily mean that a person has been mouth breathing all night long. I know this for a fact because I have personally experienced it and verified with the software that the large leak from probable mouth breathing was really very short in duration.

Full face masks...doesn't matter if your mouth is open or mouth breathing or nose breathing because the mouth is part of the sealed circuit.

[USMCVet]

Are you asking because you think your a mouth breather?
I thought I was a mouth breather and people here say that if you can breathe through nose during day you can use nasal Mask.

As much as some people here hate polls ( ) mine on mask type actually changed my mind from the Amara to Dreamwear. Honestly I'm so happy i went with Dreamwear.

My RT said and I find true that a nasal make actually kind of creates auction in mouth to hold it closed.

With current mask I might try another for a night but I am definitely not actively looking to replace it.

Honestly the time I've invested visiting this site, reading and asking questions has made my transition to CPAP nearly seamless.

[zoocrewphoto]

Not what I meant. If your mouth is open do u still get the value of therapy?

If you are using a full face mask, YES, you get therapy.

If you are using a nasal mask, NO, the air goes out your mouth anytime your airway closes.

[raysgirl]

There is headgear out there that can integrate a chin strip. When I first started with a cpap (and had corporate insurance that was decent) I asked about it after waking repeated with a very dry mouth, feeling like I had spent hours chewing on glass. You can google it, look at images, maybe find something you think might work for you, then ask your DME if that would work with whatever set up you are using. Having your mouth open does reduce therapy effectiveness, and in my mind, overall comfort. Reduced comfort can lead to reduced compliance with therapy and believe me, that would be bad. I lost my machine in a house fire (the structure was razed with everything in it) and did not bother to replace it for almost five years. I now have COPD, which I was probably destined for having lived with multiple smokers most of my life, but now, five years later, I also have relatively severe pulmonary hypertension, which is believed to be due to the apnea. On my first study, they had to roust me after I went over three minutes without spontaneously taking a breath and my sats dropped below 80. No telling how many times this occurred at home. I am now on a bi-pap machine and I use my own separate chin strap for comfort (a chin strap does NOT have to integrated into your headgear, but it is an extra step, too) and a full face mask. I have tried nasal gear and it just does not work for me, even with a chin strap. Good Luck!

[sc4922]

I suspect that I open my mouth or mouth breath from time to time, but Sleepyhead rarely shows any large leaks on my Dreamstation Auto, and my AHI is typically below 1.0. In terms of the impact on therapy, my assumption is that if the software is not showing any large leaks, then the machine is capable of compensating for whatever leaks result from open mouth/mouth breathing without compromising therapy. Is that not the case? I sometimes have dry mouth, but it doesn't particularly bother me. I tried to use full face masks when I first started using a CPAP more than 10 years ago, but didn't have much success with them.