Full Face Mask + Chinstrap?

I keep waking up around 4am every night with extremely dry mouth, nightmares, tooth pain. I have tried xylimelts, biotene, my humidifier setting is 5 out of 6 (resmed s9), hose temperature 78 degrees. The only way I can prevent waking up is to lower my therapy pressure below 8.5 cwp. At that level though, my AHI is around 4, which is not ideal.

Has anyone used both a full face mask and a chinstrap at the same time? Does this work?

hope this helps


I am a mouth breather.
Was given a FF mask and like you HATED the cotton batten mouth.
Someone gave me elsewhere, not here, some bad advice and told me to use a nasal mask
so I did and LOVED it, no more cotton mouth.
I woke up with a normal mouth and assumed I was keeping my mouth closed
My AHIs were 57 - 75
had several things wrong so did not realize i was leaking
but apparently i was
still not sure how i did that because my mouth was perfectly fine every morning and i even remember waking up many times and noticing right away it was closed
but the proof was in the charts
So i was advised by a wise woman here to go back to the FF mask

ONCE I DID and saw my AHI in the 2-3 range, all the way down from 57-75, I promise you that the dry mouth suddenly became a minor issue to deal with

I've seen someone else here mention putting a plastic cup with a built in bendable straw beside her bed, not near the machine though, in case it gets spilled and a quick little sip will help that

that said, i am presently waiting for a chin strap to arrive as i am willing to try that out as well and yes, I have seen several who use it and say it works.
I would think though iF it works, one could use a nasal mask with it and not need a FF mask?
I however sleep like a log in a FF mask so why screw around with whats working but in ur case, id be interested to hear how the chin strap works for you if and when you get one.

Has anyone used both a full face mask and a chinstrap at the same time? Does this work?

Chinstraps don't work for most people. As far as for you, the only way you will know is to try a good one.

Christine L wrote:

Has anyone used both a full face mask and a chinstrap at the same time? Does this work?

Chinstraps don't work for most people. As far as for you, the only way you will know is to try a good one.

I agree

I don't use a chin strap with a FFM, so I can't help you with that question. However, I DO use a chin strap with nasal pillows because I'm a stubborn night-time mouth breather and couldn't find a FFM that fit me well. Chin strap works like a charm for me. No more mouth breathing.

I have used a chin strap with a FFM for over 3 years and it stopped me from having dry mouth. I wish that I could find one that works as well with a nassle pillow mask or nassle cushion mask.

Using a chinstrap with a ffm works for me. I don't find a ffm, nasal mask or nasal pillows useful for me without also using a chinstrap.

I hate chin straps due to the wrap-around tightness they present, so this is the device I like to use:



It's a bike cuff strap that I use to keep my chin up, plus it also helps to keep my mask from riding up. You can find them at any bike shop.

Chinstraps don't work for most people. As far as for you, the only way you will know is to try a good one.

How can that be as I hear so many people saying they use them?
Presently waiting for one to arrive for me.....

t's a bike cuff strap that I use to keep my chin up, plus it also helps to keep my mask from riding up. You can find them at any bike shop.

Thats a rather brilliant idea! As an avid cyclist I have several of those despite having a Batavus dutch bike where everything is inside the wheel and covered so I don't need those cuffs for cycling..............now I have a use for them, rather than waiting to buy a potential road bike I doubt Id ever get around to using.....which is why I didn't throw them all out 3 + years ago...........thats Fuc***** Brilliant I'd say....

Chin strap works like a charm for me. No more mouth breathing

I might be wrong as this is just a recent problem I have noticed having, mouth breathing that is........that one is opening their mouth to breathe becaUse their nose is stuffed up.
Can one confirm this to be true or dead wrong?
But if true, would you not wake up if you cannot open your mouth to breathe IF your nose does become stuffed up? With quite a start I would assume????

I wish that I could find one that works as well with a nassle pillow mask or nassle cushion mask

Keep seeing this being said. Again I have not yet received a chin strap or seen one but i would have thought if it kept your mouth closed using a FF mask, it would on any other mask. Not sure yet why the type of mask would be indicative of whether it remains closed or not?!!!

Chin straps aren't supposed to be vise grips. People can still open their mouths and breath through their mouths if the mouth is determined to fall open or if a person simply wants to open their mouth. Some people may mouth breathe out of habit or because the lower jaw just wants to drop down and not always because they physically have to mouth breathe due to nasal congestion. Chin straps are really not much more than a gentle reminder to the body that the person would like to keep the mouth closed for whatever reason they may be using the chin strap.
Since dry mouth from mouth breathing can and does happen even with a full face mask and people find that the dry mouth is highly annoying there are lots of people who elect to add a chin strap to a full face mask just to try to keep the mouth less dry.

So how successful a chin strap might be is going to be determined a lot by what its original intention of use was. They do "work" for a lot of people and to say that they don't work for "most" people is a bit vague because "working" has to involve what the original intention of use was/is. Will it/can it totally prevent a person from ever opening their mouth....of course not but maybe sealing the mouth totally wasn't the intention. Maybe the intention was simply a little reduction in mouth opening to help reduce chance of dry mouth. Maybe the intention was just a gentle reminder to the body to keep the mouth shut better.

In any case chin straps are cheap and can even be a DIY project and hurts nothing to at least try one if someone has an issue that they think it might help with. If we don't try we don't ever know. How successful is going to depend on why it was used in the first place. While the most commonly thought of reason is so a person can use a nasal interface mask and have some help keeping the mouth close so therapy pressure doesn't exit the mouth. There are people using chin straps with full face masks just to help with dry mouth. Heck, I know someone who tapes and uses a chin strap but the intent is to keep the chipmunk cheeks away. She already knows that it can't keep the mouth closed and that's why she tapes but the slight pressure of the chin strap on the cheek area prevents the ballooning out of the cheeks which she found highly annoying.

Chin straps....come with that big YMMV sticker just like everything else in the cpap world.

ShelaghDB wrote:

Chin strap works like a charm for me. No more mouth breathing

I might be wrong as this is just a recent problem I have noticed having, mouth breathing that is........that one is opening their mouth to breathe becaUse their nose is stuffed up.
Can one confirm this to be true or dead wrong?
But if true, would you not wake up if you cannot open your mouth to breathe IF your nose does become stuffed up? With quite a start I would assume????

My nose is not stuffed up normally. Only if I get a cold or something. I don't tend toward nasal allergies. I don't mouth breathe when I am awake, and never have. I don't fall asleep mouth breathing, either. In fact, I CAN'T fall asleep when I have a cold or compromised nasal breathing because mouth breathing has to be such a conscious effort for me. What appears to happen is that, as I enter deeper stages of sleep, my body SO completely relaxes that my jaw drops open. After a couple of times of waking up in the middle of the night with the pressure flowing into my nose and out of my mouth, creating the very uncomfortable Sahara in my mouth and throat, I got the chin strap. That has never happened again since I started using the chin strap. So, as someone else said previously, mouth breathing doesn't always happen solely because one has a stuffy nose. In fact...I'm not terribly sure that I actually *mouth breath* so much as I just open my mouth due to relaxation, and the cpap pressure takes the path of least resistance to escape. Pre-cpap, I didn't really wake up with a dry mouth, but I did wake up frequently with drool on my cheek and pillow, so I knew my mouth was open.

Christine L wrote: Chinstraps don't work for most people. As far as for you, the only way you will know is to try a good one.

You are correct. Instead use this 4 times per day, 3 minutes each.



http://liptrainerguru.com/

This does not work for everyone.

Do you use a nylon or elastic bike strap?

Sir NoddinOff wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 28, 2014 8:16 pm

I hate chin straps due to the wrap-around tightness they present, so this is the device I like to use:



It's a bike cuff strap that I use to keep my chin up, plus it also helps to keep my mask from riding up. You can find them at any bike shop.

Portlandguy wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 11, 2022 5:44 pm

Do you use a nylon or elastic bike strap?

I assume your question was directed to Sir NoddinOff since you quoted him.
Don't expect a response. He passed away a few years back.
Just wanted to let you know.

A chin strap may help to keep your bottom jaw from moving/opening, but nothing short of taping will keep your lips closed if they want to open and leak.