Nasal breathing is better for our overall health and has even been shown to reduce stress. Despite this, mouth breathing is extremely common, and often, if you are mouth breathing you likely don’t even realise.
It’s also tricky to identify the effects of mouth breathing in the short term - for example, the impact that mouth breathing has on how your face shape develops over time. Some of the negative side effects of mouth breathing are snoring, changing face shape, bad breath and tooth placement.
If you’re worried about whether you’re a mouth breather, here are some things to look out for.
What causes mouth breathing?
There are lots of reasons that people mouth breathe, even though your body is designed to breathe through your nose.
When you breathe through your mouth it’s usually because of a physical blockage – either temporary or permanent. You may have a cold and find yourself breathing through your mouth as your nose is blocked, or you might have a more permanent sinus issue that needs medical attention. Sometimes mouth breathing is a habit that has formed after an illness.
Like all habits, mouth breathing is one that can be reversed in adults.
What are some of the effects of mouth breathing?
Some of the most common negative side effects of mouth breathing are:- Dry mouth
- Bad breath
- Dental issues and misaligned teeth
- Elongated mouth breathing face
- Speech impediments
- Difficulty concentrating and tiredness
- Sleep apnoea
What’s the best way to address these effects?
The quicker you address your own, or a family member’s mouth breathing the easier it is to reverse the effects, particularly when it comes to addressing elongated mouth breathing face in adults.
The way to stop mouth breathing is to encourage your body to breathe through your nose. This will reverse some of the effects of mouth breathing, like snoring and dry mouth, almost immediately.
For other mouth breathing symptoms, like mouth breathing face shape or sleep apnea, it may take more time and further support from your dentist or healthcare provider to reverse these effects.
Here’s how to address the cause of mouth breathing, and start to reverse the effects:
Manage an illness: there may be underlying medical conditions causing mouth breathing, like asthma or sinus infections. If you or a family member suffers from these, they may develop a mouth breathing habit, so even after the illness is addressed, they continue to breathe through their mouth.
Treat a physical impediment: mouth breathing may be caused by a more permanent physical impairment like enlarged adenoids or tonsils. Adenoids are glands located in the throat. If this is the case, an ear, nose, and throat doctor may suggest surgery to remove the impediment. Alternatively, misshaped nasal passages or narrow sinuses may also cause mouth breathing. These can also be fixed with surgery.
Address your allergies: chronic hay fever, or other allergies are a common cause of mouth breathing. There are lots of ways to treat allergies from antihistamines or air purifiers.
Talk to your orthodontist: to reverse elongated mouth breathing face in adults or some of the other physical effects of mouth breathing like misaligned teeth, orthodontic treatment may be necessary.
Train your body to breathe through your nose: There are plenty of benefits to nasal breathing, including:
- It produces nitric oxide (NO): breathing through your nose releases NO into your body, which widens your blood vessels. Wider blood vessels make it easier for oxygen to move around your body.
- It naturally filters: your nasal hairs form a natural barrier to foreign particles entering your body.
- It warms the air: when you breathe in through your nose, your nasal passages warm the air to match your body’s temperature before it reaches your lungs, making it easier to absorb.
When you breathe through your nose, your tongue should rest against the roof of your mouth, just behind the back of your top row of teeth.
When your tongue is in this position your mouth naturally closes, and you’re gently forced to breathe through your nose. Often, mouth breathing is caused by poor tongue posture.
You can train your tongue, just like the other muscles in your body, and break your mouth breathing habit.
Myospots are small, flavoured pads that adhere to the roof of your mouth, and encourage you to perform exercises that retrain your tongue to sit in the correct position. When you place a spot in your mouth, your tongue reflexively goes to sit in that position. Repetition will train your tongue to sit in the correct position, and so encourage you to breathe through your nose.
Buy Myospots now and see how you can retrain your tongue and start to get all the benefits of breathing through your nose – including starting to reduce the effects of mouth breathing.
*All information is general in nature and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Your healthcare provider can consult with you to confirm if this advice is right for you.
