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Mouth taping

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baseten +0 points · about 5 years ago Original Poster

I found quite a few posts about mouth taping, but how exactly do you apply it so it stays sealed through the night? I wake up, and my lips are parted, and the tape is wet. I’m using the Durapore tape made by Nexcare and a chin strap. I apply one strip horizontally across my thought and three short strips vertically and evenly spaced. Thank you for your help.

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Sierra +0 points · about 5 years ago Sleep Patron

Some people (like my wife) can get away with minimal tape and that encourages them enough to keep their mouth shut during the night. Some claim they can train themselves to keep their mouth closed by keeping their tongue at the top of their mouth behind their top front teeth. Neither worked real well for me. The chin strap and a horizontal 1" wide strip of the Nexcare Gentle Paper tape usually does the trick. However I found the chin strap uncomfortable to wear.

So my current method is to continue using the 1" wide paper tape, as I find that the most moisture resistant. But to give it additional staying power without using a chin strap I cover that with a second layer of MeFix tape that is 10 cm wide. I cut a piece that is about 6 cm, or 2.5" long. I find the MeFix tape to be more flexible and with a bit stronger adhesive. I tried the MeFix tape alone, but I found it was not moisture resistant enough and came loose. The combination of the two, with the paper tape on first does work well for me. I have been able to abandon using the chin strap.

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baseten +0 points · about 5 years ago Original Poster

Great. Thank you. I really appreciate your response. I'll give that a try.

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baseten +0 points · about 5 years ago Original Poster

One more question, Sierra. Are your lips just in a natural, closed position when you cover them? I've read that some people will pull one lip over the other, but that doesn't work for me either.

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Sierra +0 points · about 5 years ago Sleep Patron

I press them fairly firmly together when I put the 1" paper tape on. No overlap though.

Also, if you are male shaving before putting the tape on helps. And it seems to help to do a thorough face wash before taping too.

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lakechapala +0 points · about 5 years ago

After a year of treatment I have got my AHI down from 30 ish to between 0.0 -0.5 but I cant stop my masks from leaking. Only mask that works for me is Simplus but it slips up during the night and puts pressure close to my eyes. Have tried various chinstraps but my mouth still opens. My max ipap is 13.8 so I should be able to cope, but I cant. The thought of using tape isn't appealing but I am going to give your suggestions a try. I have a number of nasal and pillow masks that I would like to use. Hopefully your tape solutions will not not affect sealing.

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Sierra +0 points · about 5 years ago Sleep Patron

I use a ResMed AirFit P10 and the tape does not interfere with it. My wife uses a F&P Brevida and taping does not interfere with it either. She gets away with just the 1" paper tape. I have to add the second larger layer of MeFix.

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