Mouth breathing...any advice?

Greetings people,
Not a newbie...been on cpap over 5 years. I just wanted to get a few opinions on a new issue that has emerged.

I use a full face mask...the old style Quattro. No heat on humidifier. Lately...meaning the last few months, I've awakened with a super dry mouth. So I've obviously been opening my mouth and doing some mouth breathing.

Planning on buying a chin strap but am concerned that this will impinge on mask fit. Any suggestions for specific chin strap or advice on it's use.

Does anyone make a chin strap that the mask straps can attach to? May have to try making my own.
Thanks,
CN

I don't think you want a chin strap that connects to your mask straps even if there were any. It would change the tensional vectors on the mask and probably make the fit worse.

Have you checked the leak rate to see if there has perhaps been a change in mask leaks?

As for chin straps -- you may fair better with a chin strap that pulls your chin up rather than back towards your throat. I trialed a few back in my early days and settled on the PapCap design by PurSleep for a while (see pic below) ...


I ended up training my tongue to seal the airway between my sinuses and my mouth by planting it up on the roof of my mouth (while awake, be conscious of where your tongue is and make sure it stays up on the roof of your mouth at all times). After training for a few weeks, the muscle memory begins to keep it there even while asleep and I was able to verify with leak values of my CPAP data.

Thanks DreamStalker,
Yes, I was having a few more leaks...which I thought I had fixed. I use a fabric gasket and with my mouth open, it gets wet and fails to do it's job. Occasionally it will wake me, and I'll do a few quick adjustments.

On reflection, you're probably right on the combined chinstrap and mask strap idea. Just trying to find ways to simplify. The picture you posted of the strap with a little cap looks interesting and shouldn't mess with mask fit.

The only thing I've changed in my life is to eliminate alcohol and subsequently a bit of weight loss. Idon't think it's a mask fit issue though.

I'll pick up a chinstrap and give that a try. Easy enough to do.
CN

What I discovered long ago was that FF masks by their nature require a lower strap and the tension on that lower strap unfortunately cranks your lower jaw to open your mouth (perhaps not for everyone but at least for me). Also, I found that FF masks require more facial real estate to be sealed ... so more potential for leak issues.

Eventually I found my way to nasal pillow masks and never looked back except for a fear that one day I would get a head cold that would clog up my sinuses. It's been about 12 years since I last had the flu and I've never had to use the 10-year old hybrid mask stashed up in my closet specifically for the day my sinuses clog up. I've had 2 or 3 instances where I got some type of minor sinus infection but not severe enough to clog me up completely ... and I usually just go immediately into a water only fast to bump my immune system into overdrive (and reduce mucous production) to take care of any potential for a runaway infection.

But I would highly recommend Bret's PapCap design ... you would just put the PapCap on first and your mask on top of that. The PapCap itself acts as a stabilizing platform for the mask straps. You can click on the photo above to go to his website. And just as a disclaimer, I get nothing at all for any of his product sales and I've bought nothing from him in 8 to 10 years now. But I was satisfied with both his products and service when I was his customer. He is also a CPAP user and a member of this forum, though I've not seen him post in a very long time.

An alternative to chin straps with a FFM is a soft cervical collar which lift/supports the jaw preventing jaw drop during sleep. Its jaw drop and FFM's that cause leaks with mouth breathing.
If you can prevent mouth breathing, so much the better. Even so, preventing jaw drop is a good outcome.

Your profile says that you use a Nasal Mask, did you change from this to a FF Mask recently? If so, what was your reason for changing?

I changed from a Nasal Mask because I was getting mouth leakage, although it wasn't in large leak territory I reduced it dramatically by taping my mouth for a while.
I wasn't keen on taping though so eventually changed to a FF Mask. Would heated humidification serve you better perhaps?