ReliableCoralBee1114

So I'm back here to tell how the story has been goingfor the past two months. After all this time and a few more adjustments in the oral device she did improve her snoring. She doesn't really snore anymore, but we can definitelly hear her breathing during the night. It's a reasonably loud noise of the air going through the respiratory tract, like she is pulling the air harder. It's much better than the noise of her snoring though.

However the dentist is confident that the adenoid is causing this and he is tending to suggest her to remove it. The thing is this surgery is not that simple from what I've read and it's commom to have some severe side effects, so I'm not really sure it's worth as it seems to be ok now. Not perfect, but much better than before.

I also don't think CPAP would be worth to correct such thing and has not even been considered so far. So what you guys think? Go all the way to the surgery as the dentist is sugestting or just leave like this as it seems to be ok?

Just an update. She went to the dentist today and he reinforced that he doesn't recommend using any chin straps or strips to keep her mouth shut. He said when her jaw moves forward she will start breathing naturally through her nose again. I'm not so sure about this, but since he said, let's believe him.

On the other hand he also asked about the possibility of removing the adenoid which in his opinion is blocking the passage of air and that's the reason why she has breathed through her mouth all her life. Has anyone removed it? I have seen much worse cases of snoring/apnea, but I don't really see people opting for surgical solutions. And I must say I'm not a fan of this idea either.

Anyway, I don't want to sound pessimistic but I feel the dentist is already thinking about other ways to solve the problem. I would say he will eventually suggest the CPAP in case we say no to the surgery. Let's wait and see.

My dad used to have an absurd amount of apneas per night before he started using Cpap 5 or 6 years ago. The number of apneas decreased significantly since them, but he still does have some each night. He sleeps way better now and the doctor said it's ok compared to what he used to have. I'm not a specialist, but I think that depending on how bad it was before, it's fine to continue to have some.

Thank you for your responses!

We asked the dentist about using a chin strap, but he said he wouldn't recommended it because the jaw is supposed to be loose during the sleep. Cpap was not even considered due to her apnea being mild.

I must say there has been only 3 weeks she started using the application, so I might be going way to fast. It just seems odd to me that the fact that she is a mouthbreather doesn't really caught his attention, so she might start breathing through her mouth once the jaw moves forward, I don't know.

I will keep this topic updated as we get more news, in case anyone experience something similar!

I will try to be concise with my story. My girlfriend has been increasingly snoring in the past few months to the point I had to start sleeping in a spare room. We don’t live together and only see each other during the weekend, still it was enough for me to make her to go see a doctor. The doctor asked for a sleep study which pointed that she has only mild apnea.

Here I want to make an observation: she is a mouthbreather since she was a kid. As there wasn’t enough “room” for the air to go through, she started breathing through her mouth during the her sleep and that continues to this day. Sometimes even when she is awake she is breathing through her mouth, not really because she can’t breath through her nose, but because she kinda got used to it.

Anyway, going back to the doctor, as she has only mild apnea he recommended an oral device to move her jaw forward, so the air could go through more easily. She has been using it for about 2-3 weeks and we haven’t seen that much of difference so far, despite decreasing her snoring a little bit. Although the device keeps her mouth partially shut, she still breathes through her mouth. We have been monitoring her snoring daily using an app called SnoreLab.

I know there is a long way through and the doctor will make a lot of adjustments in the following weeks and months, but my question is: doesn’t the fact that she is a mouthbreather impacts the efficacy of the device? I mean, as she is a mouthbreather, even if the device opens up “room” for the air, wouldn’t she continue breathing through her mouth, as she is use to, thus continuing to snore? Or will she simply started breathing through her nose once the air has “room” to go through? Sometimes I feel we should be focusing more on making her sleep with her mouth shut than in bringing her jaw forward.

I don’t wanna say the dentist is wrong cause he is specialized in sleeping issues, but I have been reading a lot of things in the internet lately and sometimes I feel that finding a solution is almost a matter of trial and error. I’m almost sure that her snoring comes almost entirely from the fact that she can’t keep her mouth closed. I’m almost going for some crazy experiences like mouth taping her to see what happens, but I also don’t want to dicredit the dentist with some ridiculous measures. I mean, the doctor has so much knowledge and I’m going to use such a rudimentary and stupid technique, it doesn’t feel right.

So, has anyone experienced anything like this? Does the oral device really works for mouthbreathers? Am I being just too impatient? Should we be looking for something else? I know it’s a long story, but I would really appreciate if anyone could help!

Thanks in advance!