Lets Hear Something New about DIY Mouthguards!

[socknitster]

Ok, lets get some discussion going on DIY mouthguards. I made one today and I am really happy with how it turned out.

Background for newbies.

When your tongue is pressed to the roof of your mouth, it formes a seal that doesn't let air escape. When you go to bed tonight, experiment with your nasal interface. You can OPEN YOUR MOUTH and air won't come out. Even after a tonsilectomy (July 30, 2007) I have found this to be true. In fact I experimented with it last night. I have also noticed this when working out. I was doing it unconsciously while running on an elliptical machine. Breath in thru nose (tongue at roof of mouth), breathe out thru mouth (tongue goes down a bit to let air out).

So, the idea of the DIY mouth guard is to get your tongue in this positon all night so you don't have to tape, use a ff mask or do any other crazy thing just to get optimal therapy.

My background. I have a receded jaw. Full face masks do NOT FIT me very well. The best has been the hans rudolph, but even that doesn't really fit well.

I've been taping. And chin strapping. Since June. And I flipping hate it. Last night I must have drooled and the tape came loose. At 4 am I put new tape on and promptly drooled again. ARRRGGH! I decided to do something with the 2 $1 mouth guards I got at walmart last week. TODAY!

There are lots of old threads about the diy mouthguards of yore. Hopefully someone will post the links or you can check the archive.

So, here is what I did. (By the way, my mouth is so small I used the "YOUTH" size mouthguard from Walmart in the sporting goods dept.

I took one of the mouthguards and cut off about an inch. I had a shallow nonsitck pan of water boiling. I turned off the water, waited 30 seconds and dropped the piece in. Then I took a Tablespoon and squished it to make it roughly tongue shaped. Then I scraped it out and put it on the counter and squished and smoothed some more. Then I stuck it in my mouth where it would be eventually. It was still warm enough to take the shape of that flap of skin under the tongue.

Next, I held it up against the uncut mouthguard and rest it on top and using sharp scissors, trimmed the excess of the plastic away so that is is now an upside down U shape.

Remember, I haven't boiled the second guard yet.

Now I want to attatch the two pieces together. I want to do this now, at least roughly so I can be sure that they are well and truly attatched when I boil and bite the second guard. I don't want the two pieces coming apart and choking me, OR YOU!

I took a large spoon and placed it in the boiling water (trapped between the pot lid and the saucepan) to heat up. Then I slipped the hot spoon between the tongue piece and the inner rim of the mouthguard. After a couple of seconds, I removed the spoon and pressed the two pieces together. I repeated this until it was well-tacked together all the way around.

Now, I wanted to boil the whole thing with as little disturbance to this arrangement as possible. I have this thing called a skimmer. It is a kitchen tool that is used for skimming the foam off of broth or stock. It is essentially a flat strainer (fine wire mesh) at the end of a handle. I put the mouthguard on this and lowered it into the water for the prescribed time (follow the directions on the package). I left the skimmer in the pot with the guard and then just lifted it back out again.

Then I simultaniously:

Bit
Pressed tongue to roof of mouth
Applied Suction with mouth (as directed on packaging)
Pressed the front of my teeth with fingers

Then I dropped it in a bowl of cool water.

I think it melded together quite well. I am not worried about parts breaking off and choking me. It is comfy and I think it might work.

I have to say, I have tried making these guards before, but have never been this successful in acheiving my goal.

I will post pics soon of the guard and the stuff I used to make it. And I will update after I have used it a while.

There are several veterans here who have used these types of things successfully for years.

I thought it was time to revisit the topic and to talk about TECHNIQUES for making them. This is my personal best, so I thought you all should know about how I made it in detail if you want to try it yourself. For $2 and 1/2 an hour of your time, it is worth a try.

Jen

[rested gal]

Very good description of what you did, Jen!

There are lots of old threads about the diy mouthguards of yore. Hopefully someone will post the links or you can check the archive.

LINKS to: Mouth leaks - Air Leaks - Tape - DIY Guard
viewtopic.php?t=8011

The original DIY topic is here:
Topic started by frequenseeker Dec 01 2004 subject: mouth leak solution, cheap DIY oral appliance
http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/message-b ... php?t=4750

[socknitster]

This is the mouthguard and tools I used. Click on the pic for a larger image. The mouthguard goes on the upper set of teeth.



Hope these help someone.

And THANK YOU to Rested Gal. Without your ongoing sources of information, I would be forever stumped.

Sound like an emmy speech? Guess what is on the boob tube tonight?

Jen

[Gerald]

Jen.......

Thanks for the report......Your efforts are an encouragement for me to try again.

Gerald

PS. How are you doing since surgery? Were you able to lower the pressures?

[JeffH]

Now, sleep with it and see how you feel. The one I made hurt my mouth too much. Taping with a tape that doesn't tear skin has been the best solution I have found.

[socknitster]

Ok,

I haven't looked at my numbers yet today, but I slept with it for 6 hours last night and my jaw never hurt (unlike the snoring boil and bite I tried a couple of months ago). I did have a few leaks. It wasn't a miracle. My tongue was capable of slipping back still. However, I'm still hopefull because I've been trying to train my tongue to do this without help and have not been successful. I think this will help me train my tongue to stay in place.

I took it out after 6 hours because I was just tired of the way it felt (hearkening back to the early cpap days). It will take some getting used to.

But it never hurt. It wasn't a miracle, but I'm very hopefull.

Gerald,

My original scrip for bipap was 16/12. I now feel completely healed from the tonsilectomy surgery (7/30/07) and of course my silent gerd is still under treatment with prilosec otc. My 90% pressure is now down to 10/7. I've begun to sleep on my side again because now that the pressure is down the aerophagia isn't very bad any more. If that doesn't make me feel good about my decision to do that surgery, I don't know what will. I have been so worried about being able to sleep on my side during pregnancy. Now I can give up that worry. I recently had an AHI under 1 for the first time in a looooooonnnnnngggggg time. I'm finally starting to feel rested again and everything is a-ok.

I broke my toe about 2 weeks ago and it feels completely healed too. However I'm following the docs recommendation and taping it to my other toe for another two weeks. It was completely broken in two, so I'm being cautious. Especially since our upcoming Disney World Vacation is just a stone's throw away and that means lots of walking!

I'll post again when I have some data to share.

jen

[Treesap]

Ok,
I broke my toe about 2 weeks ago and it feels completely healed too. However I'm following the docs recommendation and taping it to my other toe for another two weeks. It was completely broken in two, so I'm being cautious. Especially since our upcoming Disney World Vacation is just a stone's throw away and that means lots of walking!

OMG! You broke your toe in half? I'll be praying for you, girl.

[socknitster]

Treesap,

Yup. It was my pinky toe and it was dangling off the side of my foot like it didn't belong there. I thought at first I had just stubbed it. Then I looked down. Then I took it seriously. Headed straight for a chair with ice, pillows to elevate it and some ibuprofin for swelling. I had to reset the toe right away before swelling made it impossible. I went later for an xray to make sure there weren't any bone chips that could cause problems. It was pretty obvious it was broken off its base. Kinda gross, but hey! I must have hit it in just the right spot. Anyway, it will be two weeks tomorrow and it only hurt for about the first 10 days. It really wasn't that bad. The only reason I remember to modify my walk so my toe doesn't get bent backward is because the tape reminds me.

BTW, if you break a toe, everyone says the "docs can't really do much so don't bother going." You really should go. Bone chips could sever nerves, muscles, tendons etc and cause lots of trouble. Better safe than sorry, I say. It was also good to hear the proper way to tape the toes together, the proper shoes to wear (I had to buy new shoes) and how to walk to avoid re-injuring the toe. Well worth a copay.

DATA
Just looked at my data from last night. 90% pressure was the same at 10/7 as it has been for most of the last week (healing from tonsilectomy getting better and better--it was 12/8 or 11/7 the weeks before).

There was a large leak right before I took the mouthguard out of my mouth, but otherwise the leak line is pretty straight. So, I went for roughly 6 hours without my tongue losing its positon. My AHI for last night was 0.8. Only the third night since my surgery under 1.0.

So, no negative impact on my data. I'm going to keep at it. I'll report again after I have a week or two of data to share.

I get my TAP appliance on Oct 3, so if you are interested in that watch for my report on that device.

Also, I get a new interface from cpap.com today. I'm having trouble with blemishes being caused by my beloved Swift II headgear. I talked to my aesthetician about it and I told her I've been washing the headgear as often as I can--a couple times a week and she said it probably isn't about hygiene, but about friction. With sensitive skin, friction can inflame the follicle and cause stuff to get trapped and turn into a blemish. My skin is covered in tiny blemishes in a swoosh shape on both sides--they are so small most people probably don't notice them unless they are standing really super close to me--they are flesh colored and don't really look like blemishes, just bumps. But they are frequently turning into cysts now.

So, its time to try something new. I'm getting the comfortlite 2 with all of its various options (I ordered the extra ones too). I'm not so worried about my forehead as I am my cheeks which are far more visible (I can use my hair to cover my forehead if need be!).

Anyway, so far so good.

Jen

[socknitster]

This shows my AHI trend. My tonsilectomy was July 30. Pretty impressive change. At first, during healing for the worse and then gradually showing to be better and better than before. YAY!

Thanks to James Skinner for encore pro analyzer. Another fun way to look at your data.

jen

[Snoredog]

You probably won't see the full effect of your tonsillectomy for about a year or more, I would expect you will still have some swelling present and then scaring will take place.

But it appears it did lower your AHI about half which is good, less pressure will probably be required as a result.

you need one of these dental torches, it would shape that mouth piece much faster. Make sure that anything you make doesn't put too much pressure on your teeth or gums. Pushing your teeth out of alignment or sores is not good.

[Daffney_Gillfin]

I use the youth size also. In addition to that, I spend time stretching the part that fits on my teeth several times, and cutting off the excess, in order to get it as thin as I can. Some of my teeth actually cut through the guard. That seems to cut down on the drool factor quite a bit.

I've been using a DIY of some sort almost since the time I started the CPAP about a year ago. I tried taping a night or two, and decided it really wasn't for me. I like being able to carry on a conversation after I've masked up without having to start over with the taping. Really, taping just freaks me out a bit. I'd probably get used to it if I kept at it, but I don't see the need.

I did discover how fast I could get my mask off, and the DIY out of my mouth in the middle of last night. I have no idea why, but I woke up suddenly and pulled the mask off, and the DIY out of my mouth in about a half a second. I've never done that before. I didn't have a chance to look at my data for last night yet. I do remember having strange dreams, but I don't know if they were related to the panic. Anyway, the guard comes out quickly when needed.

[socknitster]

Neat torch, Snoredog! I agree with you about being careful with the diy device. So far, so good. Yes, I expect to continue to see improvement for some time, but from here on out I am guessing it will be subtle. My tonsils were HUGE so getting them out of there far outweighs any swelling there could be now. I'm so glad I did it.

Now, my son, who is 4, has even bigger tonsils. My husband, as it turns out had bum tonsils too and had them out when he was 7. So Harry got a bad tonsil double-whammy. He is having his tonsils and adenoids out in early October.

I'm hoping to see an improvement in behavior from him! He can be lethargic, whiny and low attention span at times. The ent said any apnea in children is unacceptable and dangerous and this surgery cures 99% of them.

Daffney,
THanks for the tips about the guard. I might try the thinning technique next time.

Jen

[Snoredog]

Now, my son, who is 4, has even bigger tonsils. My husband, as it turns out had bum tonsils too and had them out when he was 7. So Harry got a bad tonsil double-whammy. He is having his tonsils and adenoids out in early October.

I'm hoping to see an improvement in behavior from him! He can be lethargic, whiny and low attention span at times. The ent said any apnea in children is unacceptable and dangerous and this surgery cures 99% of them.

Daffney,
THanks for the tips about the guard. I might try the thinning technique next time.

Jen

DO your son a favor, get his tonsils out by the time he is 7, my 14 months older brother had his tonsils out by the time he was 10 and he doesn't have OSA or had a stroke and he is a lot heavier than I. He is the only person I know that went in for a PSG after hearing of my 2 strokes and OSA to see if he also had OSA and they said he didn't. But I told him they didn't screen him very well to order up the PSG in the first place or it wouldn't have been needed.