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sleep apnoea

In moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea, the airway collapses behind the tongue. Mouth breathing is the body's compensatory route around that collapse. Sealing it removes a rescue mechanism and can lengthen apnoeic episodes and deepen oxygen desaturation. Because a large proportion of people with sleep apnoea are undiagnosed, the population most likely to try mouth taping for snoring overlaps heavily with the population for whom it is contraindicated. That is the core problem with the trend, and no amount of gentle-adhesive marketing addresses it.

• Small trials in patients with mild obstructive sleep apnoea have found modest reductions in apnoea-hypopnoea index and snoring.
• Sample sizes are typically well under a hundred, with short follow-up and no blinding — a design that reliably overstates effects.
• Participants in these trials were screened first, and those with nasal obstruction or moderate-to-severe apnoea were excluded.
• There is no good evidence for benefit in people who do not have a diagnosed breathing disorder.