This one goes out to my fellow mouth breathers.
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| | | | | Mouth taping is the practice of sealing your lips shut with tape, usually while sleeping, to encourage nasal breathing. Very little research exists on the effects of mouth taping, and no conclusive evidence has found benefits or that it's safe, for that matter. | | The thought of sealing my lips shut while unconscious was fairly unsettling. Plus, I'd read numerous expert quotes and the scientific literature cautioning against it. | | But in the end, my curiosity won out over good sense. Here's what I learned in the process. (This goes without saying, but please talk with a doctor before trying this yourself.) | | | | | | | Sleep tight,
Ginger Wojcik
Newsletter Editor, Healthline |  | | Written by Ginger Wojcik
March 21, 2025 • 3 min read | | | | | | | |
| |  | | | Could mouth-taping cure my mouth breathing? | | It all started at the dentist last month. | | "Do you breathe out of your mouth?" My dental hygienist asked, standing over me with a pointy metal tool in each hand. Reclined in the dentist's chair, with my mouth wide open, I tried to respond intelligibly. | | "Ha ca ya ell?" | | "By the color of your teeth," she said. "They're a little yellow." | | As my Google search later that day confirmed, mouth breathing can, in fact, cause dental issues, including tooth erosion and teeth grinding (when done during sleep). I already knew that I grind my teeth in my sleep (my mouth guard and I go way back) and that I breathe through my mouth most of the time. | | I did not know, however, that those two things were related — or that mouth breathing could affect my dental health at all. | | Learning about the dental effects of mouth breathing was displeasing, to say the least. I like my teeth, and I try hard to keep them healthy. Plus, it's not like I prefer breathing out of my mouth. I mean, mouth breathers aren't exactly the cool kids in our culture. (On that note, it's a good idea to talk with a professional if you have trouble breathing out of your nose, as it may point to an underlying health issue.) | | But how was I supposed to learn to breathe through my nose after 33 years of mostly breathing out of my mouth? Was this even possible considering an ear, nose, and throat specialist once suggested surgery in order to fully breathe out of my nose? | | Eventually, I landed on a potential solution: mouth taping. I'd been hearing people talk about it on social media for years, and it struck me as relatively easy and accessible to try out. So, I ordered an $8 roll of mouth tape, and the rest is history. | | Read a full account of my 5-day mouth-taping experiment here! | | | | | | | | | | Lips are sealed | | | | | | |  | | Nexcare Strong Hold Pain-Free Removal Tape | | I went for this option, which has 6.8K+ reviews on Amazon and was under $8. Specialized mouth tapes like this one use a gentle adhesive that keeps your lips together without causing discomfort or skin irritation. I found it stickier than expected. Taped horizontally across my entire mouth, it firmly held my lips shut. For more give, I used a small piece of tape placed vertically across my lips when I slept. | | | Every product we recommend has gone through either Healthline's or Optum Now's vetting processes. If you buy through links on this page, we may receive a small commission or other tangible benefit. Healthline has sole editorial control over this newsletter. Potential uses for the products listed here are not health claims made by the manufacturers. Healthline and Optum Now are owned by RVO Health. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | How did you feel about this newsletter? | | | | Email wellnesswire@healthline.com with comments related to this newsletter or topics you'd like to see in future editions. The newsletter editors read every message that lands in our inbox — yes, really! We look forward to hearing from you. | | | | | | |
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