07/25/2026
Your mouth is for eating and talking. Your nose is for breathing.
Mouth breathing dries out the saliva that protects your teeth at night. That is sometimes why we see cavities along the gumline in people who brush well. We also see irritated gums, puffiness inflammation, and a sticky morning mouth.
Nasal breathing keeps the tongue on the roof of the mouth, and that tongue position is what shapes a wide upper jaw in a growing child. Mouth breathing drops it, and years later that shows up as crowded teeth and a narrow, constricted airway. As an adult, that increases the risk for snoring, sleep apnea and downstream health concerns when organs don’t recover optimally and chronically suffer from oxygen deprivation.
Dr. Grace has been mouthtaping at night for a while now, and so have her kids. Less snoring, deeper sleep, better rest, greater energy, no cottony morning mouth. By encouraging a closed lip posture, you also maintain the normal tone of the tongue, reflexively swallowing the way you’re supposed to. Bonus: this also maintains facial muscle and neck tone — hidden beauty secret!
One caveat: Taping is not for everyone. If you cannot breathe through your nose comfortably all day or you have untreated sleep apnea, talk to us first, and never tape a child without an evaluation.
Ask at your next dental visit for us to check your airway and grab a sample of a mouth tape and/or a nasal breathing strip. We offer thesw for our patients to try out.
More info to come in our upcoming newsletter. Look for The Sweet Life: Wellness and Dentistry, a monthly newsletter. We sent out our first one last month (sorry if you received more than one, working out the bugs). We also share on our practice website blog, which has more info if you’d like another resource.
