Tongue on roof of mouth...please explain

Everyone talks about the tongue on the roof of the mouth as a way to prevent mouth breathing/leaking, but I would like to know EXACTLY what we're talking about. Is the entire tongue pressing against the roof of the mouth (in as much as possible), or just the tip of the tongue is...where exactly?

I still do not understand how a habit of keeping the tongue on the roof of the mouth can overcome the atonia of REM.

I can only speak for myself.

In my case, it's about the first 1/4 to 1/3 of my tongue (as measured from the tip) that is parked up on the roof of my mouth. The tip of the tongue is right behind my top front teeth. Or rather, with the new TMJ guard, as close to "right behind my top front teeth" as the guard will allow.

In my case, this is the natural position for my tongue when I am wide awake and not talking or eating or actively swallowing or yawning. With the BiPAP, I sometimes have to consciously force the tongue back up there because if I swallow (which I seem to do frequently), air comes into my mouth and tries to force the tongue down off the roof of the mouth. And at it's worst that leads to chipmunk cheeks, which I find find extremely difficult to deal with: opening the mouth allows even more air to rush in (and forces the tongue further away from the roof of the mouth, while swallowing puts air in my tummy. If the chimpmunk cheeks are bad enough, I simply turn Kaa off, open the mouth to expel the excess air, and then turn Kaa back on. Fortunately this does not happen as often as it was happening a year ago.

Don't know about the atonia of REM, but ...

I think forum members typically have the cause and effect reversed and spread misinformation. They post that tongue on roof of mouth will cause nasal breathing. I believe the cause and effect should be reversed.

If you practice nasal breathing, the tongue will naturally be at the roof of the mouth where there is the naturally occurring lip seal and tongue suction. Maybe what members are saying is placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth helps remind you to breathe through your nose. (I believe you understand all the significant health advantages of nasal breathing.)

Also, with the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth during swallowing of saliva, the saliva will go straight into the stomach without trapping any air.

Tongue on roof of mouth is a good thing.

robysue speaks the truth.

robysue wrote:In my case, it's about the first 1/4 to 1/3 of my tongue (as measured from the tip) that is parked up on the roof of my mouth. The tip of the tongue is right behind my top front teeth. Or rather, with the new TMJ guard, as close to "right behind my top front teeth" as the guard will allow.

Is the tip of your tongue pressing against your teeth, or against the roof of your mouth where it ends?

SleepingUgly wrote: against the roof of your mouth where it ends?

Check.

Hi AleepingUgly

SleepingUgly

Is the entire tongue pressing against the roof of the mouth (in as much as possible)...

You need to condition the marvelous brain to keep the tongue pressing against the roof of the mouth the whole night. It takes some time to train yourself, after that there is no more leaks and with good luck it could work well for long time.

How much of the thong will press against the roof depends on the size of your tongue I imagine. As Robysue, I put the tongue just back the front teeth and press against the roof it makes the tongue to touch the cheeks and make a seal because of the suction it creates, yes I suction the saliva and air and the trick is done the tongue is kind of glue to the roof of the mouth.

When I tried it I thought every night before falling asleep I needed to keep the tongue pressing the roof of the mouth. After one week or so it was working. I used it to avoid leaks due to mouth breathing, if it's useful for something else I can't say.

Good training

i was bad about mouthbreathing A very good thing, by praticing that and sucking a vaccume in the throat, most people find it trains the tongue to stay forward and jelps to stop mouthbreathing,now for the most part I don't, at least not to the point that I have leaks that effect my AHI. Granted on some nights it's worse than others but it allows me to use my nasal mask with a normal leak rate, I still need my water in the night too, but even with a FF mask I need the water. Jim

It's good train to do it during the day when you can, the body begins to except it as normal.

When I first started using my mask, I would wake up with my tongue feeling like a board, and my mouth so dry I thought all my saliva was gone forever. Once I realized I was mouth breathing, I would gently put my tongue at the roof of my mouth (wherever it landed seemed to be fine) and would put my lips together. This went on for about a week. I don't even think about it anymore, and no longer wake with extreme dry mouth.

Are you people sleeping with nasal masks and NO chinstrap or tape?

Breath out slowly, now use your tongue to stop the air flow. You can first bite your tongue gently then you realize you can just do the same by wedging it behind your teeth in the top of your mouth. Now notice that not just your tongue stopped the airflow. That muscle action of using your tongue probably also made you close your throat to your mouth. You can still breath out of your nose but you have cut off air flow through your mouth. Once you have the hang of it, you don't need the tongue to do it. But having the tongue in that position sort of reminds those other muscles to stop the airflow. After a while its such an ingrained habit that it works even while sleeping and you can use a nasal mask.

And yes, nasal mask and no need for chinstraps.

No chin strap or tape for me.

I do wear an acrylic nightguard over my top teeth that is occupying the space where my tongue is supposed to go, but I can put my tongue on top of that... I'll try. Thanks!

SleepingUgly wrote:Are you people sleeping with nasal masks and NO chinstrap or tape?

Yes ComfortGel "M" Nasal mask. In general chin straps are a waste of time and money, sometimes when congested really bad I use my FF mask.

I were using a nasal mask and after that nasal pillows (I have never used a FFM or a chinstrap). That worked very well for months, I stopped it and started using tape because of a problem of toot pain I didn't know was produced by the mask.

Before finding the mask was making the problem I started clinching the teeth and I stopped the tongue technique. I really don't know if the clinching was due to the tongue trick. If that happens you can use a sports teeth guard from Walmart, inexpensive and useful. For some people only using the mouth guard make them to keep the mouth closed the whole night. For me it works 95% of the night.

Now that we speak about it I will try it again because the tape started to tear my skin, here it's cold and dry.

rosacer wrote: You need to condition the marvelous brain to keep the tongue pressing against the roof of the mouth the whole night.

But that's impossible Ms. Rosacer.

An unconscious brain can't be trained to do anything.

QED

Sir Rockalot