What causes us to mouth breathe?

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Dave5059
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What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by Dave5059 » Tue May 26, 2015 6:05 pm

What causes us to mouth breathe? Do people who snore mouth breathe more than people who do not snore?

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postitnote
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by postitnote » Tue May 26, 2015 6:41 pm

Dave5059 wrote:What causes us to mouth breathe? Do people who snore mouth breathe more than people who do not snore?
I'm going to guess deviated septums or stuffed up noses. No clue if that causes more snoring or not.

On the other hand, all my kids were mouth breathers and pretty sure the two youngest grands all are too. One has allergies so has nasal issues.
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JohnBFisher
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by JohnBFisher » Tue May 26, 2015 6:48 pm

Awwww... Come on, folks! It's obvious why we mouth breathe?

You see, my pappy always told me my mouth hangs open so I can catch some flies! ..

Seriously, your jaw muscle tends to relax when you fall asleep. That tendency gets more pronounced as we age. Since there's a larger airway through the mouth than through the nose, that means you breathe through your mouth instead of through your nose once your jaw drops open. Basic physics. No psychics needed. .. !! ..

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avi123
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by avi123 » Tue May 26, 2015 6:56 pm

Dave5059 wrote:What causes us to mouth breathe? Do people who snore mouth breathe more than people who do not snore?
I think that I am taking a chance by posting this link, it relates to the first question above:

http://www.nosebreathe.com/mouthbreathing.html

Interesting:
The rampant uses of pacifiers and sippy cups place the tongue low toward the lower jaw and prolong tongue thrust and encourage mouth breathing. Soon it becomes ingrained, and the habit is set for a lifetime.

Ditto with thumb sucking. On this I have a proof at home.

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postitnote
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by postitnote » Tue May 26, 2015 8:05 pm

avi123 wrote:
Dave5059 wrote:What causes us to mouth breathe? Do people who snore mouth breathe more than people who do not snore?
I think that I am taking a chance by posting this link, it relates to the first question above:

http://www.nosebreathe.com/mouthbreathing.html

Interesting:
The rampant uses of pacifiers and sippy cups place the tongue low toward the lower jaw and prolong tongue thrust and encourage mouth breathing. Soon it becomes ingrained, and the habit is set for a lifetime.

Ditto with thumb sucking. On this I have a proof at home.
That's interesting about pacifiers and sippy cups. I breastfed my kids and they went straight to normal cup drinking when I weaned. No pacifiers coz that's what creates nursing issues.
Grands though...youngest and oldest no pacifiers, middle one had one but didn't use for long. All used sippy cups though! No thumb suckers at all. It's those darn cups! I swear they make them in stages to keep them on them in high school still. Before you laugh, think about the sports bottles! Sippy cups, no?
Morbius, are you bored?

Dave5059
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by Dave5059 » Tue May 26, 2015 9:20 pm

I would have thought that breathing through the nose is more natural because it humidifies your airway or something similar to that. If I try breathing through my mouth for a while it will be very dry

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zoocrewphoto
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by zoocrewphoto » Wed May 27, 2015 1:23 am

I've always been a mouth breather, even during the day. Sometimes due to allergies and congestion. But I really have a narrow airway system. I have to use asthma medication to get my nasal passages to open enough that I can breathe through my mouth more than 5 minutes without opening my mouth for a longer breath.

At night, I do NOT breathe through my nose when I am lying down, even if my nose is clear. Once, I did inhale through my nose while wearing the full face mask, and I hated it. The feeling of air going through my nose tickled and did not feel good at all. So, I have no interested in using a nasal type of mask. I did try a hybrid a few times. I did not like it at all. One of the reasons I waited so long to seek treatment was because I mistakenly believed that cpap only worked with a nasal mask, and I had no intention of trying that.

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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by SewTired » Wed May 27, 2015 6:57 am

For some it is stuffed up noses. For most, I think it is simply habit. In my family, most of us did a lot of camping without tents. You really do swallow a lot of flies, gnats, spiders and other icky insects if you don't keep your mouth shut. Now, my sister was a close mouthed person for years until issues with a deviated septum that she didn't know she had worsened. It affected her breathing when she was awake. After surgery, she no longer needed a cPap. My Mom was never a mouthbreather until she reached her mid70s. Most, but not all, if the elderly people I have known over the years were mouthbreathers at least some of the time.

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mgaggie
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by mgaggie » Thu May 28, 2015 3:57 am

I have been told by my ENT specialist that I have clear nasal passages. Yet I mouth breathe. I believe its just the muscles relaxing, no amount of tongue pressing against the roof of my mouth has fixed it.

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49er
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by 49er » Thu May 28, 2015 4:15 am

Even before my septoplasty, I breathed through my nose. Erroneously thinking I breathed through my mouth led me to months of futility with full face masks when it was clear they weren't working.

I noticed before surgery, I would start breathing through my mouth if I ate a gluten/dairy heavy dinner. Even when that occurs now, I no longer do it.

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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by sleepstar » Thu May 28, 2015 4:26 am

49er wrote:Even before my septoplasty, I breathed through my nose. Erroneously thinking I breathed through my mouth led me to months of futility with full face masks when it was clear they weren't working.

I noticed before surgery, I would start breathing through my mouth if I ate a gluten/dairy heavy dinner. Even when that occurs now, I no longer do it.

This is common - thinking we breathe through our mouth more than we do. Many many patients initially say they breathe through their mouth and there's no way a nasal mask will work. They agree to give it a try when they are at their appointment and many pleasantly surprise themselves!

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49er
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by 49er » Thu May 28, 2015 4:53 am

sleepstar wrote:
49er wrote:Even before my septoplasty, I breathed through my nose. Erroneously thinking I breathed through my mouth led me to months of futility with full face masks when it was clear they weren't working.

I noticed before surgery, I would start breathing through my mouth if I ate a gluten/dairy heavy dinner. Even when that occurs now, I no longer do it.

This is common - thinking we breathe through our mouth more than we do. Many many patients initially say they breathe through their mouth and there's no way a nasal mask will work. They agree to give it a try when they are at their appointment and many pleasantly surprise themselves!
Interesting sleepstar. As I told you in PMS, my first sleep study was a home test so obviously, the technician couldn't determine the ideal mask. And when I went for a follow up mask fitting, the guy doing it just asked if I was a mouth breather and I erroneously assumed I was. I can't blame him for my FFM futility but at the same time, he didn't have the best attitude regarding helping me find the right mask even when I came back for a 2nd time after struggling with the first one.

49er

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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by sleepstar » Thu May 28, 2015 5:00 am

49er wrote:
sleepstar wrote:
49er wrote:Even before my septoplasty, I breathed through my nose. Erroneously thinking I breathed through my mouth led me to months of futility with full face masks when it was clear they weren't working.

I noticed before surgery, I would start breathing through my mouth if I ate a gluten/dairy heavy dinner. Even when that occurs now, I no longer do it.

This is common - thinking we breathe through our mouth more than we do. Many many patients initially say they breathe through their mouth and there's no way a nasal mask will work. They agree to give it a try when they are at their appointment and many pleasantly surprise themselves!
Interesting sleepstar. As I told you in PMS, my first sleep study was a home test so obviously, the technician couldn't determine the ideal mask. And when I went for a follow up mask fitting, the guy doing it just asked if I was a mouth breather and I erroneously assumed I was. I can't blame him for my FFM futility but at the same time, he didn't have the best attitude regarding helping me find the right mask even when I came back for a 2nd time after struggling with the first one.

49er
I really dislike giving full face masks at the first appointment unless it's really necessary. It's often a poor way to start treatment because they can be so difficult to fit, prone to leak, large and people report claustrophobia. I prefer to give nasal masks, at least initially.

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49er
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Re: What causes us to mouth breathe?

Post by 49er » Thu May 28, 2015 5:26 am

sleepstar wrote:
49er wrote:
sleepstar wrote:
49er wrote:Even before my septoplasty, I breathed through my nose. Erroneously thinking I breathed through my mouth led me to months of futility with full face masks when it was clear they weren't working.

I noticed before surgery, I would start breathing through my mouth if I ate a gluten/dairy heavy dinner. Even when that occurs now, I no longer do it.

This is common - thinking we breathe through our mouth more than we do. Many many patients initially say they breathe through their mouth and there's no way a nasal mask will work. They agree to give it a try when they are at their appointment and many pleasantly surprise themselves!
Interesting sleepstar. As I told you in PMS, my first sleep study was a home test so obviously, the technician couldn't determine the ideal mask. And when I went for a follow up mask fitting, the guy doing it just asked if I was a mouth breather and I erroneously assumed I was. I can't blame him for my FFM futility but at the same time, he didn't have the best attitude regarding helping me find the right mask even when I came back for a 2nd time after struggling with the first one.

49er
I really dislike giving full face masks at the first appointment unless it's really necessary. It's often a poor way to start treatment because they can be so difficult to fit, prone to leak, large and people report claustrophobia. I prefer to give nasal masks, at least initially.
Again, very interesting Sleepstar. One more reason for me to hate that place since I left there after feeling like the sleep doctor tried to bully me into seeing a psychiatrist because I was frustrated my treatment wasn't working. Hmm, maybe if her tech had cared more about assisting patients in finding the right mask, that might have helped the situation. Unfortunately, I just wasn't as well informed as I am now but hopefully, this exchange between us will help others avoid similar type problems.

49er