Is mouth taping while you sleep good or bad? Well, that depends on why you are mouth breathing and snoring. Before deciding if you should mouth tape while you sleep, it’s important to understand the root cause of why you are mouth breathing and snoring at night.

When mouth taping is bad

Many times, snoring and mouth breathing while sleeping are caused by having an obstructed airway. You may have enlarged tonsils, enlarged adenoids, poor tongue posture, or a mouth that doesn’t have enough room for your tongue to stay on your palate and out of your airway. If you tape your mouth while you sleep when you have a functional problem preventing proper nasal breathing at night, you will be forcing yourself to breathe out of an obstructed airway. If there is a functional reason why you are mouthbreathing, that means you are mouthbreathing out of necessity. In these cases, mouth taping will not correct these problems and is not advisable.

Root cause of snoring and mouthbreathing

If you snore at night and mouth breathe, an assessment by a myofunctional therapist and airway-focused dentist can help determine the root cause of these issues. Often, a combination of expansion and myofunctional therapy can train the tongue to posture on the roof of the mouth with light suction, greatly improving or resolving these issues.

When mouth taping is good

Once you’ve addressed any functional problems leading to nighttime snoring and mouthbreathing, mouth tape can be used as a gentle reminder to seal your lips and nasal breathe while sleeping. Mouth tape should not be needed long-term. If it is, that likely means you still have functional problems that need to be addressed.

Our approach to fixing mouthbreathing

At TMJ Sleep & Breathe Center in Vienna, VA, Dr. Gary Adams and our Orofacial Myologist Maria, use a team approach to identify root cause issues and treat patients with mouth breathing, TMJ, and sleep issues. Usually, the treatment consists of identifying functional airway problems and treating them with myofunctional therapy, as well as the use of expanders to make more room in the mouth for the tongue.