Full-face mask and jaw pain

[Dyssomniac]

I've been using an AirFit F10 full-face mask for seven months now. I've had various issues with it, but overall it's been okay. I'd like to use nasal pillows instead, and have an AirFir P10 setup, but my nasal passages just aren't clear enough to make this work.

A couple of weeks ago, I had oral surgery and will be having a final round tomorrow. The upshot is that wearing the full-face mask causes too much pain on the side of the jaw that's been worked on. I've tried adjusting its positioning and the tightness of the straps, but nothing is making it work.

I have no idea how long the healing from the oral surgery will take, but since my current issue has lasted a couple of weeks I'm not optimistic that it will be resolved quickly. I'm therefore wondering if there's another mask I can use, at least for now.

Does anyone have experience with any full-face (nose- and mouth-covering) mask that doesn't contact the jaw area below the mouth and above the chin? Does anything like that exist? Just looking around for options.

[SleepySunflower]

I've been using an AirFit F10 full-face mask for seven months now. I've had various issues with it, but overall it's been okay. I'd like to use nasal pillows instead, and have an AirFir P10 setup, but my nasal passages just aren't clear enough to make this work.

A couple of weeks ago, I had oral surgery and will be having a final round tomorrow. The upshot is that wearing the full-face mask causes too much pain on the side of the jaw that's been worked on. I've tried adjusting its positioning and the tightness of the straps, but nothing is making it work.

I have no idea how long the healing from the oral surgery will take, but since my current issue has lasted a couple of weeks I'm not optimistic that it will be resolved quickly. I'm therefore wondering if there's another mask I can use, at least for now.

Does anyone have experience with any full-face (nose- and mouth-covering) mask that doesn't contact the jaw area below the mouth and above the chin? Does anything like that exist? Just looking around for options.

Hi Dyssomniac,

Several years ago, my sleep doctor prescribed Flonase to help with nasal congestion. It was not an instant remedy; I used it continuously during periods when I had congestion problems due to springtime allergies. I haven't been having problems so I haven't used it for a couple of years.

Flonase is now available over-the-counter so you might try it with your AirFit P10. However, I'd recommend that you talk to your oral surgeon before trying the Flonase in case it would adversely affect your oral surgery. Good luck!

[Darth Lady]

I don't think I've ever seen a full face mask headgear that doesn't hit in that area because the bottom of the mask needs to be stabilized. While you're waiting for that Flonase to work (I use it too; haven't had a problem since I started, and it used to be awful, especially in the late spring/early summer), another idea is to get Padacheek strap covers. They will considerably lessen the pressure on any given area where the strap lies, and Karen has a line that fits the F10.

FWIW, we use a very similar thing for horses whose halters or bridles are rubbing, or who have had facial surgery... Seems to work for them .

[Dyssomniac]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've been trying various sprays to see if they can help open up my nasal passages enough to make nasal pillows feasible. I didn't think Flonase was doing the trick, but I may not have stuck with it long enough. My wife swears by it, so I'll give it a shot. In the meantime I did order a Pad a Cheek mask liner to see if this can help cushion the jaw area. Not sure if that will help -- it seems to be even the slight pressure of the mask that causes the problem -- but I'm happy to give anything a try. (Another issue is that I've tended to let my mouth hang open when I've used nasal pillows in the past. I have a couple of chin straps, but they would be definitely no-can-do while the chin area is healing. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.)

[Pugsy]

Just how bad is the mouth breathing with the nasal pillow mask?
I mean is it all night or part of the night in really big leak territory or wake you up a gazillion times?
Sometimes we have to compromise and if the choice is no cpap or leaky cpap then I take leaky cpap any day of the week.

I can't think of any full face mask that wouldn't put pressure on the area you are talking about. Only possible one might be the Circadiance full face cloth mask called the Anew and I don't know how much pressure it causes or needs to seal. Have you ever tried one?

Would a teeny tiny bit of Afrin help the congestion? Short term use in teeny tiny amounts supplemented with the OTC spray like Nasocort (it does take a little while for that sort of spray to begin helping and isn't as immediate relief as Afrin). I know Afrin's drawbacks but if a person is cautious and careful and uses it very limited for short term relief...it has its place.

[Dyssomniac]

Pugsy, thanks for the additional suggestions. I had my third and final appointment with the endodontist this morning; he said the jaw pain may have been related to sutures that he removed today, so he expects the jaw pain to be shortlived if it continues at all. That's certainly good news.

Meanwhile, I would still like to transition to nasal pillows for other reasons. I used Flonase yesterday morning and evening, which did seem to improve the nasal passages, then tried the nasal pillows at night. Strangely, I can breathe through my nose better with the full-face mask than with the nasal pillows. With the pillows it was a strain to take a breath, but if I immediately switched to the full-face mask, I could breath fine through the nostrils. I'm not clear on why this is the case -- I assumed the full-face mask was better because it enabled mouth-breathing if needed, but apparently there's something else about it that makes it better for nostril-breathing for me. This makes me wonder if there are other configuration issues I should play with, such as the pillow size (I was given two options when they issued the mask). I tried bumping up the minimum air pressure to see if this would help with the nasal pillows -- usually it sits most of the night at 5cm, I increased it to 7.5cm. Unfortunately this didn't help at all.

As for Afrin, I did use a small one-shot dose of that a couple of nights ago. Of all the sprays it seems to have the greatest effect in clearing the airways. Besides the well-known rebound effect, one downside for me is that it's very tricky to get enough of it to have a beneficial effect without causing a burning sensation in the tissues. But I suppose I could try some further experiments with that.

[Pugsy]

What size nasal pillow have you tried? If at all possible can you try a larger size. Many people find that there seems to feel like more air is moving with the larger pillow so that stifling/suffocation feeling isn't nearly so annoying.
I personally found that my usual XS and Small sizes in all the other pillows masks were equally successful but with the P10 nasal pillows I couldn't use the XS and I did okay with the Small and the Medium.
So if you have a larger option then you might try it.

[Dyssomniac]

When the sleep clinic gave me the P10, they set it up with medium pillows, and also included a set of smalls. I vaguely remember there was a set of large in the box, but they chose not to give those to me for whatever reason. I tried switching from the medium to the small to see if they would be a better fit for my nostrils, but trying them again just now I see your point that with larger pillows there is a sense of more air being delivered.

Personally I wouldn't mind my mouth opening occasionally during the night, but my wife finds the whooshing sound pretty disruptive. In fact it was her reaction that sent me from nasal pillows to a full-face mask when I was first trying machines. So if I try to go with nasal pillows now, I'd want to try to prevent mouth-open episodes as much as possible.