How To Avoid Dry Mouth From Your CPAP Sleep Apnea Treatment

If you wake up in the morning and the first thing you need to do is rush to get a drink of water, you’re probably very familiar with dry mouth. This is a condition where your mouth has stopped producing saliva, and in addition to making it very dry and uncomfortable, it can also cause a sore throat and lead to nasal problems. If you suffer from sleep apnea, this probably stems from your use of a CPAP machine. This puts you in a tough spot: you hate having dry mouth all the time, but you can’t go without your sleep apnea treatment. Thankfully, there are a few key things you can do to avoid this and make your mornings much more pleasant again.

1. Wear a Chinstrap

Dry mouth is especially common for people who only wear a nasal mask with their CPAP, as this allows their jaw to fall open during the night and dry out their mouth. One simple solution is to wear a chin strap to keep your mouth closed and firmly in place.

2. Switch to a Facemask

Another approach to this problem is to switch to a mask that covers your mouth as well as your nose. However, while this may help some, it can also cause many issues for others, as some patients frequently have feelings of claustrophobia when wearing a full facemask throughout the night.

3. Make sure you’re hydrated

This could easily be the cause of your dry mouth, or may exacerbate it if it’s stemming from your CPAP. Make sure you’re drinking plenty of water throughout the day, and minimize other drinks such as coffee and soda. It is very common for people with sleep apnea to sweat throughout the night, so this combined with not enough water is an easy way to have constant dry mouth.

4. Get an oral appliance

Of course, if your dry mouth is because of your CPAP, the best way to deal with it may be to get rid of the CPAP altogether. Another approach to treating sleep apnea is with oral appliance therapy. Oral appliances are small, custom-made mouthguards that a patient wears to bed each night. They help alleviate sleep apnea symptoms by gently repositioning the jaw to prevent the airway from becoming blocked. One big advantage is that, unlike a CPAP, air isn’t constantly being forced down your throat, which is often the root cause of dry mouth. Oral appliances are comfortable, easy to use, and have been shown to improve the sleep quality of 95% of the people who use them regularly.

How Do I Get an Oral Appliance?

So an oral appliance sounds like the solution for you, but you can’t simply pick it up from the store. In order to get one that is made just for you, you need to visit Weatherford Dental Sleep Medicine. This will give Dr. Deborah Romack the chance to examine you and determine if an oral appliance could be your answer. If it is, she and her team can almost immediately get to work making you one.

Call Us Today

Dr. Romack and the team at Weatherford Dental Sleep Medicine have been helping people successfully treat their sleep apnea with oral appliances for years, and the results have truly been amazing. If you’re ready to look forward to your mornings again, just give them a call today for a free consultation.