Annoying dry mouth

I use a P10 nasal pillow mask and a chin strap (yes I am a mouth breather) with an Airsense A10 intergrated heated humidifer set to 5 but continue to have issues with dry mouth during the night.

First is this dry mouth issue dangerous to my health?

Second, what have some of you done to relieve the symptoms or eliminate the issue?

Thanks,
Mike

Hi Mike

I too am a mouth breather. I'm on my 4th chin strap and I STILL get dry mouth. My humidifier is set to max and that does help. I'm going to have to look at either hybrid masks or a full face masks. I'm not going to do the "tape your mouth" trick. Too risky for my tastes.

Also, I swallow a lot of air, not every night, but enough to make a change.

I doubt there are health risks to dry mouth, other than stinky breath and your SO not loving that

Dry mouth isn't good for dental health.

How come you mouth breath? Habit? Chronic nasal congestion?

Do you happen to take any meds that tend to dry out things or have some sort of health issue that relates to dry mouth?

Pugsy, I do have a slightly deviated septum on the left nostril (no intention of fixing at my age) but the dry mouth occurs only with cpap treatment. I have had nights where it was impacting me, but most nights it does.

I am not aware that any of my drugs that have this side effect. And since if only occurs with cpap only I am confident that the meds or the deviated septum and not the cause. I have a full face mask that I can try to see if that help (don't use as I am a side sleeper)

Even though some medical conditions and medications can contribute to "dry mouth", the most common culprit is mouth-breathing. Even with a full face mask it can happen, but at least the therapy isn't compromised by losing the air.

Nasal cleansing before bedtime can help to open up the nasal passages. Too much warm, humid air can contribute to nasal congestion, so often cooler humidifier settings may help.
Training the tongue to stay to the roof of the mouth can also help.


Den

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mal59 wrote:Pugsy, I do have a slightly deviated septum on the left nostril (no intention of fixing at my age) but the dry mouth occurs only with cpap treatment. I have had nights where it was impacting me, but most nights it does.

I am not aware that any of my drugs that have this side effect. And since if only occurs with cpap only I am confident that the meds or the deviated septum and not the cause. I have a full face mask that I can try to see if that help (don't use as I am a side sleeper)

It shouldn't matter that you are a side sleeper...a FF mask should solve your problem. I believe that most FF mask users are side sleepers. Let the mask hang over the edge of the pillow or try a pap pillow with cut outs.

Pugsy wrote:Dry mouth isn't good for dental health.

I told my dentist about my CPAP and she gave me prescription toothpaste with higher Fluoride content.

When mouth breathing is the culprit for dry mouth some people have had some luck with increasing the humidity from the humidifier (assuming that more humidity doesn't add to the congestion) and using a full face mask so the mouth is exposed to air with more moisture in it but often even with a full face mask and maximum humidity the mouth still will get dry from the mouth breathing.

Some people just get dry mouth easier than others even when meds aren't a contributing factor.
This forum is full of mouth breathers using full face masks and still complaining of dry mouth so a full face mask isn't necessarily the go to option.
You might try adding one of those mouth hydrating products like Biotene or Ora Gel moisturizing gel to see if it helps.

Now why you don't mouth breath without cpap therapy enough to dry out the air is another question.
If you are using a nasal interface mask and mouth breathing and mouth breathing without cpap...it's the same air so it should be any different unless the nasal mask is causing some sort of increased nasal congestion which it turn might cause more mouth breathing than you might be doing without cpap added in.

It's a common complaint and not easily solved.
I know it takes very little mouth breathing for my mouth to feel like the Sahara desert but fortunately I don't do much mouth breathing. I have woke up with dry mouth and looked at my leak reports and it looks like I might have been mouth breathing maybe 5 minutes. Sure feels like a lot longer than that though.

Ideally you fix whatever is causing the mouth breathing if you can otherwise you try to add more moisture to the air if you can or add a mouth hydrating product when all else fails.