I am not a mouth breather, but a mouth leaker and a severe one at that. I had to switch from the very comfortable Resmed Activa nasal CPAP mask to a full face mask because I was constantly being awoken with air rushing out of my mouth. Screw that, I felt worse using CPAP than no CPAP at all with nasal CPAP cause of that.

Does anyone know if there are OAs that are comfortable, that prevent mouth leak during nasal CPAP? I am interested in stopping the mouth leak somehow and going back to nasal CPAP if possible.

thanks,

Fred


_________________
"We don't need socialized medicine, what we need is insurance reform."


Resmed S8 Autoset Vantage, HumidAire 3i, Resmed Quattro ffmask

Hi Fred,
        I've been trying every thing to get to sleep now that I know I'm a mouth breather. The Probasics zzz-full face mask was my last attempt. It is the lightest most comfortable, great sealing,(even over my beard) mask I've tried. The trouble is I like my mirage swift nasal pillow interface the best and am not inclined to sleep without it as with any full facer.
         I came up with the idea of an external mouth restricter ,not a sealer like tape or inner mouth device. I remember as a kid wearing a knit scarf over my mouth on zero degree days that it was warm and moist breathing throgh my mouth with the scarf. If I can find an easy clean material that restricts the amount of mouth leakage I think it will work. My cpap is set to 11.0 for pressure and I respond to 10.3 and higher for rem sleep and fewer apneas. I was told by the sleep Doctor that I sleep better with any pressure of cpap. I'm guessing that a small amount of mouth leakage won't ruin my therapy so I'm going to experiment with the idea. My first attempt will be a winter head band for the ears. It might not be enough restriction and I'm sure it will be too much work to keep clean, but it's an easy cheap trial run. The next material to try is going to be a disposable flat hospital mask for over just the mouth. If one doesn't have enough restriction I'll layer them up untill I can't mouth breath. They have to be more comfortable than a chin strap which causes me to gag. If you or anyone else has any ideas for a comfortable external mouth restricter please post a reply or email me at: thebax2006@yahoo.com
                                                      Good luck and thanks for any ideas,
                                                                                                           Baxter

My experience: no cloth mesh, no matter how many layers of it, is enough to stop a powerful mouth leak. Imagine trying to use cloth or a chin strap on a balloon with a hole in it. I speak from experience, have tried everything to keep the air from shooting out of my mouth. Tongue restrictive appliance, not a chance? Chin strap, bah! Even adhesive tape did not work. But....the right kind of adhesive tape, meaning very wide AND made of plastic, with not even a pinhole in it, THAT will work. A company called Hy-tape makes their "pink tape" Google for Hy tape and pink tape and you should find it if you wish to. You completely seal up your mouth with that, but even that won't hold the air in unless you then seal the edges of that with regular cloth tape. Just be sure to create a little grab tab for quick removal. The pink tape is very gentle and won't stick. It is a surgical tape.

val wrote:

My experience: no cloth mesh, no matter how many layers of it, is enough to stop a powerful mouth leak. Imagine trying to use cloth or a chin strap on a balloon with a hole in it. I speak from experience, have tried everything to keep the air from shooting out of my mouth. Tongue restrictive appliance, not a chance? Chin strap, bah! Even adhesive tape did not work. But....the right kind of adhesive tape, meaning very wide AND made of plastic, with not even a pinhole in it, THAT will work. A company called Hy-tape makes their "pink tape" Google for Hy tape and pink tape and you should find it if you wish to. You completely seal up your mouth with that, but even that won't hold the air in unless you then seal the edges of that with regular cloth tape. Just be sure to create a little grab tab for quick removal. The pink tape is very gentle and won't stick. It is a surgical tape.

Yeah, I havent tried the mouth taping thing yet. Im using a full face mask right now and while it works, it has to be cinched down really, really tight to cut leaks to an acceptable level. I have read that a good...possibly best alternative for mouth leakers is to have a custom made oral appliance designed to stop mouth leak, combined with nasal CPAP. I started with the Resmed Activa nasal mask and that thing is like the total opposite of the Resmed Quattro FFM. The Activa fits loose and still wont leak...its designed for active sleepers.

If I could stop the mouth leak and go back to the Activa mask, I think I could perfect my CPAP treatment. I mean really get it perfect and experience good sleep.

I agree with you that I dont believe layers of mesh or whatever is enough to stop mouth leak. It needs to be some kind of impermeable material, ie; waterproof, to stop mouth leak.

Fred


_________________
"We don't need socialized medicine, what we need is insurance reform."


Resmed S8 Autoset Vantage, HumidAire 3i, Resmed Quattro ffmask

Having read your experience above I am going to try that Activa mask. It took years for me to figure out that only aggressive mouth taping will stop mouth leaks, but now that this is known, I can go back to using nose-only masks again. The full face masks, not one of them was I able to keep from leaking badly. Just remembmer tho with the tape, you got to use plenty of it,  layer on layer if necessary. The air is like a tiger scratching and scraping and banging its body against the sides of a cage, it wants to get out! I found that even wide heavy tape won't stop the air from escaping unless replenished several times a night, perhaps every two hours. The air seeps through and under, it finds little crevices and paths.  In no time the tape becomes loosened, and that's the end of it. If I could get away with using expoxy glue I would, but even that would fail am sure.