Please help newbie making 2nd attempt!

[RichCee]

Thanks Pugsy, do you think that using an over the counter mouth guard could cause my tongue or jaw to shift a little bit, and that this would actually drive down the # of OA in any given night? I can experiment by skipping the mouth guard one night, and seeing if the # OAs goes up I guess.

[Pugsy]

Thanks Pugsy, do you think that using an over the counter mouth guard could cause my tongue or jaw to shift a little bit, and that this would actually drive down the # of OA in any given night? I can experiment by skipping the mouth guard one night, and seeing if the # OAs goes up I guess.

I don't think that wearing a mouth guard only at night will cause anything to really shift but it can sure feel like it does. I had that happen when I was using the Tap Pap nasal pillow which used a mouth guard to hold the nasal pillows in place. I talked about it with my dentist and he said what while it seems to affect the bite alignment that it was unlikely to really move anything permanently because it wasn't in the mouth 24/7 for days on end.

It's possible that the mouth guard is forcing the jaw to stay in a more "open" position...less likelihood of jaw falling back and adding to the airway tissue collapse with more tissue.

You know if that's the case and you like a nasal pillow mask...look at the Tap Pap...kill 2 birds with one stone...mouth guard might help keep the airway open and hold the nasal pillows at the same time and eliminate the need for headgear totally. It's a lot more comfortable than one of those cheap boil and bite mouth guards because it is a lot thinner.

[RichCee]

Thanks for the idea Pugsy!