chin strap recommendation? puffy cheeks

Hi,

I'm a mouth breather, taping my mouth (somnifix), trying to use a nasal pillow. It sort of works (doesn't leak!), but then my cheeks puff out and eventually all the mouth pressure breaks the mouth tape seal. I found that If I wear the Philips Respironics DreamWear Full Face mask, it stops my cheeks puffing, but unfortunately, I can't get a good fit out of it: just keeps leaking despite much tweaking (I'm following Jeffy1958's amazing post https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.p ... _Jeffy1958 (huge gratitude), but can't quite get this mask).

I'm thinking maybe if I get a chinstrap that crosses over my cheeks, it might keep my cheeks from puffing out? I find a lot of them online: any recommendations for this specific issue?

tx

A strap might constrain your cheeks, but if air is getting into your mouth, it will still need to exit somewhere. So you want to prevent the air from getting into your mouth in the first place.

Try putting the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth. Then position the main part of your tongue up against your upper palate. Finally, give a little suck or swallow to create a bit of suction. You should now be able to open your mouth while breathing entirely through your nose. Practice this during the day, and see if you can get it grooved in deeply enough to help while you are asleep at night.

along with good advice from miss e, may i recommend a firm foam cervical collar instead of a chine strap?

haughki wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 08, 2023 9:58 am

the Philips Respironics DreamWear Full Face mask, it stops my cheeks puffing, but unfortunately, I can't get a good fit out of it

Jeffy's post is good, but it's not specific to that mask.

Find that mask model on youtube and carefully watch three or four videos on fitting and adjusting.

Thanks all.

I managed to dig up an old "Respironics Deluxe Chinstrap" (https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... -chinstrap) and wore it with the DreamWear nasal pillow and somnifix mouth tape last night. It mostly worked really well. Puffy cheeks only woke me up once. I think the combo of the tape and chinstrap are keeping things inside my mouth much more squunched together, making it harder for the air to get through to my cheeks. I.e., not so much that the chinstrap is keeping my cheeks from puffing, but that it's helping stop the air from getting in in the first place. Which brings me too:

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 08, 2023 11:25 am

Try putting the tip of your tongue behind your upper front teeth...

Super helpful: thank you. Totally makes sense. I think I'm already doing something like this, but I will practice and see if I can get it!

Great to hear you're seeing improvement!

Has anyone tried out this Philips Respironics SleepTight Mouth and Chin Strap ?

https://www.thecpapclinic.com.au/produc ... chin-strap

I had just started using some BSN cover-all (Fixomull) tape to stop my mouth leaks when I stumbled across the above mouth strap product.
https://www.medshop.com.au/products/bsn ... l-stretch?

Probably right up

zonker wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 16, 2023 9:37 pm

zonker's

alley.

Seems to be available only from Australia and New Zealand distributors.