dry mouth

I have been using a resmed nasal mask cpap for about a month. I have resolved a lot of the small issues and am getting pretty good sleep. But, no matter what I do, like use a chin strap, I still have a very dry mouth. Is it because I'm opening my mouth when i sleep? I don't think so, because if I open my mouth on the machine the air wakes me up. I am a little baffled by this and my mouth is really sore. Any advice?

Are you not using the humidifier?

chrissleeper wrote:I have been using a resmed nasal mask cpap for about a month. I have resolved a lot of the small issues and am getting pretty good sleep. But, no matter what I do, like use a chin strap, I still have a very dry mouth. Is it because I'm opening my mouth when i sleep? I don't think so, because if I open my mouth on the machine the air wakes me up. I am a little baffled by this and my mouth is really sore. Any advice?

It would be very easy to confirm by looking at sleep data. Fill in your equipment profile in the user Control Panel. Are you using any software like Sleepyhead to look at AHI events, pressure, flow, leaks etc? Also, chin straps by themselves are not very effective in preventing mouth leaks. You can easily breathe or lose air through the mouth, even with the jaw closed. You either need to have your tongue in place to maintain a good seal between the throat and mouth, use tape or move to a full face mask.

As sleeprider indicated, your report will tell you if you are mouth-breathing. I would bet you are mouth-breathing during the night and not totally aware of it. We all do unknown things while sleeping. Some we may be embarrassed of and some things we may be particularly proud of!

Sheriff

Some people just get dry mouth and I am one of them. If it's not mouth leaks then you might try Orajel dry mouth moisturizer, which lasts all night:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=orajel++dry+m ... SL160_.jpg

chrissleeper wrote:I have been using a resmed nasal mask cpap for about a month. I have resolved a lot of the small issues and am getting pretty good sleep. But, no matter what I do, like use a chin strap, I still have a very dry mouth. Is it because I'm opening my mouth when i sleep? I don't think so, because if I open my mouth on the machine the air wakes me up. I am a little baffled by this and my mouth is really sore. Any advice?

Mouth-breathing or mouth-leaking are the two biggest culprits, but other things like medical conditions (like Diabetes) or medications can do it, too.
On the other hand, chinstraps aren't all that dependable.


Den

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I have to use Biotene for dry mouth. It is not from mouth breathing according to the RT I saw at DME. It only started after I had chemo last year when my blood sugar went up as well. Hoping things will even out but in the mean time the Biotene does the trick.

Elle wrote:I have to use Biotene for dry mouth. It is not from mouth breathing according to the RT I saw at DME. It only started after I had chemo last year when my blood sugar went up as well. Hoping things will even out but in the mean time the Biotene does the trick.

I recently tried the new Biotene product (reformulated last year, to the severe disappointment of many on CPAPtalk). Sadly, I also found it lacking in every regard. I'm not criticizing your choice and I'm glad it works for you Elie, however I couldn't get it to last more than three hours before its efficacy broke down and I had to reapply it. I certainly will stick with my recommendation for the Orajel product (not their cold sore product BTW!!!... but the mouth moisturizer product which I linked to). I will grant that Biotene does taste a little bit better but that's not the point of the exercise, IMO

Sir NoddinOff wrote:Some people just get dry mouth and I am one of them. If it's not mouth leaks then you might try Orajel dry mouth moisturizer, which lasts all night:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=orajel++dry+m ... SL160_.jpg

Thanks for that tip - I just ordered it from Amazon.
I remember putting the original Orajel on my kids' teeth when they were babies teething, buy I didn't know they also made a product like Biotene gel.

Regards, Nate

NateS wrote:

Sir NoddinOff wrote:Some people just get dry mouth and I am one of them. If it's not mouth leaks then you might try Orajel dry mouth moisturizer, which lasts all night:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=orajel++dry+m ... SL160_.jpg

Thanks for that tip - I just ordered it from Amazon.
I remember putting the original Orajel on my kids' teeth when they were babies teething, buy I didn't know they also made a product like Biotene gel.

Regards, Nate

Hi Nate. I hope it works for you like it did for me.

Dried out gums and tongue are not something you want to happen over hours and hours, especially at night. It's all downhill from there if you let it get out of hand. All you folks out there with dry mouth that are just living with it - ask your dental professionals about dry mouth if you don't believe me. You will be shocked. I guarantee.

I know I'm like a guy who discovers a hammer and then thinks every problem is a nail, but I think taping helps a lot in preventing dry mouth.

For my FFM (full face mask) use I found it started working a whole lot better when I started using tape. Fo me, the tape solves most of the issues with "mouth breathing" and "draw drop," which interrrupts the seal of a FFM (full face mask) because my face changes shape when that occurs and the seal is broken. It's not for everyone, but here's what I'd suggest:

Some people end up using chin straps with FFM's. I tried and disliked chin straps. I have now been using surgical tape for about a year now, and it has worked wonders and works very well for me. I use silk surgical type tape you can get off of Amazon, 2" wide. There's also a 1" wide version. If you gently pull it off in the morning, there's usually no problem. Just type something like "3M-Durapore-Silk-Tape 2 inches x 10 yards - box of 6" or the like on the Amazon site. For me, it works very well with a full face mask (FFM) -- the FFM helps prevent pressure problems if my jaw does open slightly, and the tape substantially prevents my jaw from dropping and also thereby keeps my face largely in the same "position" as I fall asleep (thereby avoiding the inevitable leaks that can occur when your facial shape changes from the point of initial placement/tightening of the mask). .

I was actually worried about not being able to breath with the tape if there was a shut-down. I've found that this set-up, however, offers very few worries:

For the silk tape, apply a 2inch wide strip vertically from a spot just above your upper lip (the indentation just below your nose) down to just under your chin (with your lips closed and your jaw in a comfortable place). As you bring the tape and press it underneath your chin, "fold" the edge back on itself (maybe a 1/2 inch or so) so that the edge hangs a bit from your chin -- makes for easier removal in case of emergency. Because it's only 2 inches wide and vertically placed, your entire mouth is actually not taped -- you can, in a pinch, breath around the edges -- and the silk tape itself I've found by accident (in opening my mouth with it being placed) will also let a little air in if you open your mouth forcefully. In short, it doesn't take too much force to maneuver or breath around the silk tape, but at the same time the tape seems to mostly keep my jaw from dropping when I relax and fall asleep, which is the whole point. [The setup also seems to work best when combined with the technique, described elsewhere on this site, of learning to relax with the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as your mouth is closed, which "seals" the mouth from the nasal passage and helps prevent dry mouth]. (In placing the tape, I've also found it helpful to focus on firming the contact with the skin at the point below the nose and under the chin more than the lips, which seems to leave a little area of the lip region feeling less taped, if that makes sense). [To remove with less "tear", try pulling up vertically from underneath the chin till you reach your lip, then pull across "horizontally" for the remainder.]

The usual caveats about making up your own mind about this, considering safety issues, etc. apply, of course. But frankly, I'm surprised more people don't do this.