Mouth Closure May Worsen Airflow in Patients with Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea, unravels study
Researchers found that clenching the mouth at night may help to exacerbate airflow in patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), especially those who are more dependent on mouth breathing. A new study contradicts the recent hype of "mouth taping" as a preventive measure against mouth breathing, concluding that this is the wrong approach to take for certain OSA patients.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by repeated episodes of airway obstruction during sleep, which causes disrupted breathing and poor oxygen levels. Most commonly, it is typical in patients with OSA to breathe through the mouth, but more recently, there's been the hashtag on TikTok of "mouth taping" as a treatment method for OSA-forced nasal breathing. According to a new study by Daniel Vena, PhD from Brigham & Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, this practice raises issues about safety and efficacy.
For the research, the mouths of 54 patients were manually closed during the period of drug-induced sleep to determine their effects on airflow. The outcomes were that mouth closure improved airflow in some patients but worsened it in others, particularly those who relied mainly on mouth breathing.
The study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery aimed to evaluate the effect of oral closure during sleep on airflow. Altogether 54 adult OSA patients were studied, with a median age of 55 years, BMI of 28.9, and an apnea-hypopnea index of 26.9 events/hour. Researchers induced sleep with propofol and manually closed the patients' mouths to see whether or not they would alter the airflow.
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