using polident strips - issues

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:39 am

Ok well one issue really.

I just started using the strips. Made a HUGE difference in my numbers. Here's teh problem I seem to be having.

I cut a strip in half and moisten them and put each one at the corner of my mouth (one on each side). this leaves a fairly sizeable gap between them that is not glued. ( and please... no coments about my big mouth .. hehehe )

How big of a gap? Well if you cut the strips in half, I could fit 3 of those "halves" end-to-end across my mouth.

Should I just move them away from the corners of my mouth a bit and narrow that center gap?

Here's what seems to be happening. Toward morning... say...4am or so... the strips fail. They are firmly attached to my bottom lip but the tops seem to have let go. I see my leaks rates go up a lot when this happens. Is it possible that the large gap of unglued mouth is letting air escape and drying out the strips? Should I just use 3 pieces and span that gap?

I really like how these work and I am comfortable because if you cough or sneeze they WILL release so you don't blow your eyeballs out or something. If it costs me $6 a month to add this to my routine, I'll do it because having an AHI of 0.8 AND sleeping so well is worth it.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat May 17, 2008 10:50 am

I see my leaks rates go up a lot when this happens. Is it possible that the large gap of unglued mouth is letting air escape and drying out the strips?

I've had air escape my mouth from a slight gap in the corner when tape
worked loose. I can't afford to leave a gap...

O.

TerryB · Post by **TerryB** » Sun May 18, 2008 10:21 am

I move the strips toward the center to equalize the gap in three areas. Seems to work well for me.

Good Luck,
TerryB

grandmma · Post by **grandmma** » Sun May 18, 2008 8:12 pm

Yardbird, I also centralise the strips, and the unglued (so to speak) corners of my mouth don't seem to be a problem - I think continued use does train your mouth to stay closed while you sleep, at least it has in my case. I don't cut the strips, just wet my lips, bend into a "v' and use, tucking the ends in until they stay in place. However, it sounds like that would be far too small a strip for you.

I'd be trying 1 1/2 or 2 uncut strips & seeing how you go. If your lips become too wet, the strips will unseal. They can sometimes be re-used if you dry them out a little, and press your lips closed again.

Rather than the unsealed ends of your mouth drying the seal out, could it be that this area is causing you to drool, wetting the remaining & unsealing your lips? If so, it'd be worth trying a larger amount. In addition, not cutting the strips diagonally lengthwise means a stronger seal, I've found.

Either way you go good luck, and keep trying, it is a relatively simple process compared to others, and well worth the perseverence.[/quote]

Sleepdeprived · Post by **Sleepdeprived** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:31 am

[quote="yardbird"]Ok well one issue really.

I just started using the strips. Made a HUGE difference in my numbers. Here's teh problem I seem to be having.

I cut a strip in half and moisten them and put each one at the corner of my mouth (one on each side). this leaves a fairly sizeable gap between them that is not glued. ( and please... no coments about my big mouth .. hehehe )

How big of a gap? Well if you cut the strips in half, I could fit 3 of those "halves" end-to-end across my mouth.

Should I just move them away from the corners of my mouth a bit and narrow that center gap?

Here's what seems to be happening. Toward morning... say...4am or so... the strips fail. They are firmly attached to my bottom lip but the tops seem to have let go. I see my leaks rates go up a lot when this happens. Is it possible that the large gap of unglued mouth is letting air escape and drying out the strips? Should I just use 3 pieces and span that gap?

I really like how these work and I am comfortable because if you cough or sneeze they WILL release so you don't blow your eyeballs out or something. If it costs me $6 a month to add this to my routine, I'll do it because having an AHI of 0.8 AND sleeping so well is worth it.

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:35 am

Sleepdeprived wrote:
Hi

Are you cutting along the length so that you have two strips each being as long as the original but with half the width ?

Sleepdeprived

No I'm cutting them in half width-wise. I end up with 2 itty bitty pieces.
Should I be cutting length-wise?

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:46 am

Yep. The strips need to be as long as possible.

Brenda

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 19, 2008 9:52 am

I don't cut mine at all, just bend one full one into a "V" like Grandmma stated earlier, and center on my mouth.
It seems like I need that extra goo to keep my mouth shut.

My mouth may be on the smaller size, as it doesn't leak out the sides, but I'd say try full coverage, maybe 1 and a 1/2 to 2 strips.

Although a little more expensive, in the long run, well worth it!

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Mon May 19, 2008 10:04 am

I'll try the bending method tonight. It sounds a lot easier than cutting them.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:36 am

I think you should add some Poly Grip to the arch of the hard palate to glue the tongue into place, that should maintain the seal with the palate before the lips ever fail.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon May 19, 2008 4:43 pm

Have read that about the tongue before Snoredog, never really quite understood it. But funny enough, after a lifetime of mouth breathing due to allergies, etc, thanks to Polygrip training I now not only breathe through my nose all the time (day or night), but also my tongue seems to settle itself in the correct spot, so that if my mouth does open for some reason, the air still does not escape. Unexpected side benefits.

Polygrip rules!

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:21 pm

Anonymous wrote:Have read that about the tongue before Snoredog, never really quite understood it. But funny enough, after a lifetime of mouth breathing due to allergies, etc, thanks to Polygrip training I now not only breathe through my nose all the time (day or night), but also my tongue seems to settle itself in the correct spot, so that if my mouth does open for some reason, the air still does not escape. Unexpected side benefits.

Polygrip rules!

Now if they could just implant a rare-earth magnate into your tongue and insert a mouthpiece like a retainer with an opposing rare-earth magnate with opposite polarity your tongue would never move until you took that mouthpiece out

Takes a while but with persistence you can easily train yourself to not mouth breathe.

grandmma · Post by **grandmma** » Tue May 20, 2008 2:29 am

*Shudder*. Prefer the polygrip, at least I CAN open my mouth and move my tongue if I need to! Hear what you are saying, but......not for this little black duck!

yardbird · Post by **yardbird** » Tue May 20, 2008 5:15 am

OK well I tried the bend-it-in-a-V and leave it in one piece method last nigt. It was firmly attached to my BOTTOM lip this morning but the top was dry and my mouth was open.

weird

I'm going to keep at it because my numbers (and my SLEEP) are so much better when I can keep my mouth shut. I have the Ultra Mirage, but it's still new for me and I have an absolutely horrible time keeping it from leaking.

Not totally the mask... I think I just move around a lot.

So I'll keep going with the polident strips. There's probably some "magic" in the application method that I'm missing.

grandmma · Post by **grandmma** » Tue May 20, 2008 4:03 pm

Hmmm...interesting. It may be that you are not wetting BOTH lips enough before applying - there's a trick to wetting enough, but not too much.

Glad to hear you are not a quitter - good luck with it.

using polident strips - issues

using polident strips - issues

Re: using polident strips - issues

Re: using polident strips - issues