Is it bad to sleep with your mouth open? Yes, it's bad to sleep with your mouth open. Breathing and sleeping with the mouth open are signs that airway health has been compromised. These symptoms can potentially lead to other health problems throughout the body.
Known as “tongue positioning,” there is a right and wrong way. When closing the mouth, the teeth should be slightly apart while the tongue rests on the roof of the mouth but not against the teeth. Not only does this correct form of tongue positioning ensure better oral health, but it also prevents teeth from shifting.
People tape their mouth when they sleep to force themselves to breathe through their nose. This can help reduce snoring and sleep apnea symptoms and may improve energy levels and bad breath.
While most people breathe through their nose during sleep, people may sleep with their mouths open for a variety of reasons. Sleeping with the mouth open may be a temporary response to nasal congestion, a learned habit, or a symptom of an underlying health condition.
Researchers conclude that mouth breathing might lead to changes in the posture of the head and neck, and that chronic mouth breathing can result in an “adenoid face.” This type of facial structure involves a narrow upper dental arch, changes in incisors, an imperfect lip seal, and an increased facial height.
Background: Many patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are mouth-breathers. Mouth-breathing not only narrows the upper airway, consequently worsening the severity of OSA, but also it affects compliance with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment.
What causes nasal obstruction at night? Throughout the day, gravity is helping your body drain the mucus out of your nasal cavities. So, when you lay down in bed at night, it's harder for your mucus to drain properly and it accumulates. This leads to nasal congestion and that “blocked nose” feeling.
If you find yourself breathing through your mouth, close your mouth and try to consciously breathe through your nose. Elevate your head during sleep. Before you go to sleep, put an extra pillow below your head. Raising the height of your head while you sleep may help keep your mouth from opening.
Long term mouth breathing can lead to a myriad of oral issues including crowded teeth, cracked lips, caries (or cavities), gum disease and more. But the issues don't stop at the mouth. Mouth breathers are also more likely to experience digestive issues, chronic fatigue, morning headaches and sore throat.
When your mouth is at rest, your tongue should be against the roof of your mouth, but it should not be pressing against any of your teeth. Your teeth should be slightly apart, and your lips should be closed.
The teeth should not touch ever – except when swallowing. This comes as a big surprise to most people. When not chewing or swallowing, the tip of the tongue should rest gently on the tip and back of the lower incisors.
According to Dr. Leann Poston of Invigor Medical, “Elevating your head before bed can increase drainage and decrease congestion.” That's why the best position to sleep with a stuffy nose is on your back with different types of pillows elevating your head and neck.
Patients frequently complain that they have one side of their nose that is always blocked. This is typically due to structural issues in the nose. The nasal septum is the divider between the right and left side of your nose. It is made of cartilage and bone and it may be deviated into one side of the nose.
If you breathe through your mouth and breathe hard, there's less oxygen delivery to the cells.” This makes us more prone to high blood pressure, anxiety, stress, depression, sleep-disordered breathing, asthma and fatigue.
Mouth breathing through the night can lead to diminished sleep quality, snoring and elevated stress.
If treated early in life, more ideal facial growth and development can be promoted, along with improved overall health. As an adult, the growth and development has already happened but it's not too late–there are MANY health benefits to breathing through your nose instead of your mouth at any age!
A solid routine will impact your facial structure
Tongues of mouth breathers have nowhere to rest resulting in facial structure changes as time goes on. If you are a chronic mouth breather, your face will be narrow with a poor definition in your cheekbones.
Facial structure: mouth-breathing can actually lead the bones of the face to develop differently, yielding flat features, drooping eyes, a narrow jaw and dental arch, and a small chin, gummy smiles, dental malocclusion, including a large overbite and crowded teeth, poor posture.
Proper oral resting posture is achieved when the following is present: mouth is closed with teeth touching (or just slightly apart) lips are closed. tongue is resting on the roof of your mouth (the hard palate)
Incorrect Tongue Posture
Those who rest their tongues on the bottom of the mouth may suffer from more neck pain, jaw pain, and bad body posture overall. Additionally, bad tongue posture can change someone's appearance and make the face take on a longer, flatter shape or cause the chin or forehead to jut forward.
The most effective way to stop tongue thrusting is through a comprehensive treatment plan that includes myofunctional therapy exercises, aimed at retraining the muscles in the mouth and jaw, along with braces or other orthodontic treatments to correct misalignment of teeth.