Mouth Tape — 30 Pack, Hypoallergenic, for Nose Breathing

Read this before you buy: mouth tape is not safe for everyone. If you snore heavily, have been told you stop breathing in your sleep, gasp or choke at night, wake with headaches, or feel exhausted despite a full night, do not use mouth tape and do not buy this. Those are signs of possible obstructive sleep apnoea, and taping the mouth of someone with untreated apnoea can make an already obstructed airway worse. Get assessed first. We would rather lose the sale.

The same applies if you have significant nasal obstruction and cannot breathe comfortably through your nose while awake, if you have been drinking or taking sedatives, if you are unwell and congested, or for children.

What it is, for the people it does suit

A small hypoallergenic adhesive strip placed over the lips to encourage nose breathing overnight, for people who already breathe comfortably through their nose but fall open-mouthed while asleep.

• 30 strips
• Hypoallergenic, gentle-on-skin adhesive
• Single use
• Applied to clean dry skin; removable at any point during the night

Who this is for

• People who wake with a dry mouth or sore throat but have no other symptoms
• Habitual mouth breathers whose nose is clear when they are awake
• Anyone advised to try it by a clinician who knows their history

Who this is not for

Everyone described in the warning above. Also anyone who finds it makes them anxious — feeling unable to open your mouth is unpleasant for some people and that is a good enough reason to stop.

Honest limitations

The research base here is thin. There are small studies suggesting mouth taping may reduce snoring in people with mild sleep-disordered breathing, and there are clinicians who advise against it because of the risk to people with undiagnosed apnoea. Reviews of the evidence have called it low-quality. We are not going to present it as established, because it is not.

What it definitely does not do is treat apnoea, and it will not fix daytime tiredness that has another cause.

Practically: it is single use, so it is an ongoing cost, and the adhesive can irritate the skin around the lips over consecutive nights.

This is general information and not medical advice. If you are unsure whether mouth taping is safe for you, ask a doctor before trying it, not after.