Mouth Taping: Can It Really Help Your Sleep?

Mouth taping is what it sounds like: You tape your mouth shut before you go to sleep. Advocates claim it improves their slumber. On TikTok, the hashtag #mouthtaping has millions of views, with influencers claiming it quiets snoring and prevents morning dry mouth.

But don’t assume it will work (or is safe) for you, says Kaninika Verma, MD, a pulmonary and intensive care physician at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Illinois, where she is the director of sleep medicine. “When it comes to medical advice, it’s in your best interest to have a personalized conversation with your doctor,” Dr. Verma says.

Mouth taping usually involves placing a piece of soft paper or porous tape vertically across the middle of your closed lips at bedtime.

The goal of mouth taping is to encourage breathing through the nose and discourage snoring and mouth breathing.

“When air moves through the nasal cavity, it is warmed and humidified,” says Ann Kearney, a doctor of clinical science in speech-language pathology and a speech and swallowing disorders specialist in the department of otolaryngology at Stanford University in California, who is studying the effects of mouth taping on snoring.

Air inhaled through the nose (day or night) is also filtered, removing dust, allergens, and other particles, and it activates the body’s relaxing, stress-reducing parasympathetic nervous system.

In contrast, mouth breathing may encourage nighttime snoring and leave you with a dry mouth. The purpose of taping the mouth is to ensure that your nighttime breathing happens via your nose, she says. “The tape is just a technique to help you convert to nasal breathing.”

Verma recommends that those who snore have a conversation about it with a doctor to ask if they should be evaluated for sleep apnea or other issues, like blockages in their nasal passages.

There is limited research so far evaluating the effectiveness of mouth taping (or intentionally holding the mouth closed during sleep). But available evidence offers some clues.

In a recent study of 54 people with obstructive sleep apnea, their mouths were held closed manually during sleep to see how well they could breathe through their nose.

The procedure helped roughly 60 percent of those who participated breathe easier.

But, for a small percentage, holding the mouth closed made breathing worse. Phillip Huyett, MD, the director of Sleep Surgery at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, says the manual mouth closure technique likely had a similar effect as mouth taping (which has the same goal of holding the mouth shut).

“They’re avoiding nasal breathing because they have sleep apnea,” says Dr. Huyett. “The tape may make breathing worse for them because if they close their mouth, there will be less of an airway to breathe through.”

To help them breathe better, the most effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea remains continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP) which uses pressurized air to inflate the airway to keep it open during sleep, says Michael Darin, MD, who specializes in sleep medicine at Ochsner Health in New Orleans.

Other research shows similar results and suggests mouth taping isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. While mouth taping can help some, it may not help those who have a physical obstruction that makes breathing through their nose difficult when the mouth is closed.

In one small pilot study, 30 people with mild sleep apnea wore adhesive patches over their mouths during sleep for three nights at home.

Snoring intensity, as reported by each participant’s bed partner, was reduced slightly.

And in another study, 20 mouth breathers with mild sleep apnea wore mouth tape overnight.

Thirteen snored less intensely with the tape in place than they did on a night without it. But the study authors made clear that mouth taping is not recommended for those with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, as it “may impose dangers rather than benefits.” The study’s authors noted that their work did not evaluate the safety of mouth taping.

Kearney is planning a study that would look at whether mouth taping reduces the loudness of snoring, whether it has an effect on morning dry mouth, and whether there are people who should not use mouth tape.

If you or a sleep partner notices that you snore during the night (or you have any other symptoms), you may have obstructive sleep apnea and you should talk to a doctor, Verma says.

Mouth taping is not a substitute for a clinical diagnosis and treatment for sleep apnea if you have the chronic sleep disorder (symptoms include snoring, gasping for air, or breathing during sleep that starts or stops; sleepiness during the day, headaches or dry mouth, and frequently waking up at night to urinate or another health issue that’s causing you to snore.

“Untreated obstructive sleep apnea has long-term consequences for health and well-being, including heart issues, stroke, and greater difficulty controlling diabetes and high blood pressure,” Kearney says. “It should be looked into — not just, ‘Hey, I snore and I’ll tape my mouth.’”

Verma agrees that nose breathing does filter and moisten air. “Your respiratory system begins in your nose,” she notes.

But, she adds, it’s also natural to breathe through your mouth sometimes. Talk to a doctor if you seem to breathe through your mouth a lot of the time. “You may have nasal polyps, a deviated septum, or another type of nasal obstruction,” she says.

Mouth taping could cause problems if you have nasal congestion, allergies, asthma, or other respiratory issues, Verma says. The tape could irritate skin on and around your lips. Some people may also be allergic to the adhesives on mouth taping products, she adds.

Mouth taping could also be harmful when used with sedatives like sleep medications or alcohol, Huyett says. If you use sedatives, you’re less likely to wake up and remove the mouth tape if you’re having difficulty breathing.

Some physicians think more regulation is needed regarding taping products and the harms they could cause if they're not used with a physician’s guidance. “The devices should be regulated and prescribed by a physician's recommendation, or at the very least, a disclaimer on its use and potential risks should be required to be printed on their packaging,” says Andrew Huang, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

With all of that in mind, the first step is to bring any concerns about snoring to your doctor, rather than tape your mouth.

Mouth taping has gained popularity on social media, where influencers claim it helps with snoring.
For those who mildly or moderately breathe through their mouths, it may help. Regardless, talk to a doctor about whether you might have sleep apnea or any other underlying issues.
Some doctors are calling for mouth taping to come with federal warnings about potential health risks, the way seat belts do.

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