A Leakfree Alternative to Taping.........

[scrapper]

Taping seemed like the answer to maintianing leakfree treatment. It worked fine until.........

I started grinding my teeth at night.

So the debate started in my head...............

Do I want leakfree cpap treatment consistently every night..............

or a sore jaw in the morning?

(To say nothing of the long-term effects on my teeth.......)

As a cheap fix, I picked up a $0.99 football mouth guard.....

It was guaranteed to save my teeth from many unseen injuries..........

none of which are even likely to occur in my bed while I sleep...........

And ta-ta-tah................

No more grinding..........

Easy sleep..............

Leak free sleep.....................

and so I stopped taping..........

just used the mouthguard

and the leak free sleeping continues.............

as an added bonus, I can even talk when I have to..............

no more tape gunk on my face and lips in the am.............

and did I mention, I still have 0.0 leaks!

[Hawthorne]

Which one did you get? Is it a "boil and bit"? Do you have a lot of dental work - fillings, crowns, etc?

Tell us more about it.

[Wolfhound668]

I was just thinking of that the other day and was planning on picking one up at the local sport shop this weekend. Glad to hear its working for you.

[kf10]

Thanks for sharing a good idea scrapper. I will give it a try.

[fogman]

I have been successfully using a football mouthguard for years as a nightguard to prevent grinding. Mine are the "boil & bite" type that I buy at Walmart for $1. I found that the youth size rather than the adult size is better for use as a nightguard (very few hits from linebackers at night). I have been on CPAP for two months now will no leak problems at all and AHI's consistently below 3. I use a Zest nasal mask.

[Bob3000]

I'll try this tonight and report back.

[5aces]

An idea worth trying,especially if you have a mouthguard already.

Nice if you have the data to back up the claim,I'll put a note into the ResScan and check it out.

I have a custom dental guard from a few years back (before CPAP) so I'll be interested to check this one out!

Appreciate you jogging my memory to the pre-cpap teeth grinding days...

[Gilley]

How does the mouth gaurd stop the leaking of air from your mouth?
Thanks

[scrapper]

Many dentist's children have attended college on the profits dentist's have made off of my mouth......so the answer is yes, I have my share of dental work and then some.......

I just bought the cheap adult size of boil and bite from among the football gear at WalMart........I'll have to check out the child size suggested above..........

At the price, I'm going to pick up a few extra's..........

How does it prevent leaks? Somehow I manage to keep my mouth shut...........I'm not exactly sure otherwise--it just serves my purposes of eliminating leaks.

[cpapernewbie]

interesting!
2 years ago I have tried using mouthguard to stop mouth leaks for days but the result is not there. Not proven by data

[Hawthorne]

Thanks for the clarification about dental work and mouth guards scrapper!

I guess I put a couple of dentist's kids through college as well!

[plr66]

I think you may have had a lucky coincidence, Scrapper--and good for you! I have had a dental appliance for some years, and it has no effect whatever on leak rate. Can't imagine what physics would be involved that would yield no leaks by using one, but open to hearing about that.

[scrapper]

I think you may have had a lucky coincidence, Scrapper--and good for you! I have had a dental appliance for some years, and it has no effect whatever on leak rate. Can't imagine what physics would be involved that would yield no leaks by using one, but open to hearing about that.

This may be lucky or simply a coincidence--but I doubt it. I haven't had any other nights of 0.0 leaks in 9 months of cpap use, and it's happening day after day with the mouthguard. I suspect that the mouthguard keeps my jaws together and stops me from talking, moving my jaws, or whatever else I was doing at night. I think it's simpler than physics--and really doesn't matter to me, as long as it's successful.

I share it only so that others may possibly find the same results in an easier way than taping.........

thanks for your well wishes.............

[jazzer4]

I grind my teeth and have worn a mouth guard made by my dentist for years. It helps the wear and tear on my back teeth. Now, since being on c-pap I never have any mouth breathing, I think because the mouth guard teaches you to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth behind your front teeth. If I don't wear it one night, my jaw hurts the next day. I love my mouth guard, but it takes some getting used to. Mine felt like glass in my mouth for the first week, and it wasn't cheap! It's made out of some hard plastic, molded by dentist to my teeth. I always wonder why my dentist didn't mention that my grinding was me trying to keep my airway open at night. Would it stop all mouth leaks, I'm not sure I'm a nose breather.

[OCNorsk]

My night guard, which I've had for grinding for a bazillion years, doesn't affect my mouth breathing. Would a football one be different?