Newly happening Severe Dry Mouth

I’ve been using my sleep apnea machine with nasal pillows for years, and never had a problem with dry mouth. Over the past two weeks, it started happening almost every night. I don’t sleep with my mouth open (I’m positive, my wife confirms when she she’s me sleeping) and I haven’t changed any settings. Has this happened suddenly to anyone? Any ideas on what could be causing it all of a sudden?

The absolutely most common reason for dry mouth is air through the mouth. Can't think of any other reason other than a medical reason outside the PAP arena.

I think you may be air sipping rather than full mouth breathing. Personally I didn't know that was even possible until a few weeks ago when I woke up slowly, twice, hearing a sound I could not identify. As I became more awake I thought to check that my lips were closed and was surprised to find they were slightly open. When I closed my lips, the sound stopped. Both times my mouth was somewhat dry but not as much as it used to be when I had a habit of occasional full mouth breathing. The only possible cause I identified of the air sipping experiences was that they occurred when I had minor cold symptoms.

Just a tiny bit of air seeping between your apparently-closed lips is enough to cause the kind of symptoms you report. Start with that as your first point of attack.

I find that my tongue/jaw will drop enough to allow air to circulate through my mouth and dry it out without my lips actually opening. I actually feel it happening in the moments right before I'm unconscious. If it keeps happening maybe try a chin strap.

I am a dentist working in dental sleep medicine. Whenever a patient who formerly did not have a dry mouth suddenly gets one, the first thing that I think about is a change in medication. Many, many medications have dry mouth as a side effect. Have you been given any new meds recently? If so, you may want to review them with your pharmacist or doctor to determine whether they may be the problem. Arthur B. Luisi, Jr.,D.M.D.