Key TakeawaysA new viral trend on TikTok that involves taping your mouth shut at night claims to improve sleep and other health conditions like bad breath, cavities, and brain fog.Experts say that while nose breathing while you’re sleeping can have health benefits over mouth breathing, taping your mouth shut is not the answer.Mouth taping can be risky for people with breathing problems and certain health conditions like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Key Takeaways

A new viral trend on TikTok that involves taping your mouth shut at night claims to improve sleep and other health conditions like bad breath, cavities, and brain fog.Experts say that while nose breathing while you’re sleeping can have health benefits over mouth breathing, taping your mouth shut is not the answer.Mouth taping can be risky for people with breathing problems and certain health conditions like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

There’s a new health trend on TikTok:taping your mouth shutat night to sleep better. It’s called mouth taping and videos using the hashtag#mouthtapingalready have more than 39 million views on the social media platform.

Some users who’ve tried the trend are claiming that it can improve sleep and common health problems like snoring and bad breath.

“Breathing through your mouth contributes to a host of issues including bad breath, gum disease, cavities, brain fog, and a weakened immune system,” Isabelle Lux, a TikTok user with over 382,000 followers, said in a video. “Keeping your mouth shut before bed completely prevents that.”

In a video with 1.4 million views, another TikTok user claimed that taping their mouth helped them stay asleep all night and prevented health conditions like sinus infections.

“It helps me stay asleep…all night long. I do not wake up,” said Chance Culp, a TikTok user with 640,000 followers. “I used to wake up several times throughout the night—now, I just tape my mouth shut.”

Culp added that they’re “a chronicsinus infectionsufferer” and claimed they “have not had a sinus infection” since they started mouth taping.

Experts say that not only are these claims from influencers—who are not healthcare professionals—controversial, but the practice could actually be dangerous for some people. And there are other ways to improve your breathing without taping your mouth shut. Here’s what you need to know before you try out the trend.

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Is Nose Breathing Really Better?

Raj Dasgupta, MD, an associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California and a Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, told Verywell that breathing through your nose is the preferred route for nighttime breathing. It helps filter out dust and allergens thanks to tiny hairs (cilia) in the nose that have the job of removing germs and other environmental debris.

According to Dasgupta, nasal breathing can also helphumidify the airyou breathe. That can be beneficial since dry air is irritating to the lungs.

Breathing through your nose can also be useful as a relaxation technique andanxiety-controlling method, which Dasgupta mentioned is often used in meditation and yoga to help people transition into sleep.

What Health Problems Are Linked to Mouth Breathing?

Shannon Sullivan, MD, a clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pulmonary, Asthma and Sleep Medicine at Stanford University, told Verywell that the nose and its structures have important roles in the physiology of breathing during sleep, including regulating nasal airway resistance and stimulating ventilation.

However, when the nose is congested, Sullivan said it can lead to snoring, restless sleep, and excessive daytime sleepiness.

Compared to nasal breathing, experts say that open-mouth breathing—especially chronic oral breathing—can have a negative impact on oral health. It’s often associated withdry mouthin the morning, bad breath, gum irritation, snoring, anddental cavitieswhen compared to nasal breathing.

“Open-mouth breathing has been shown to change the position of upper airway structures in ways that predispose to snoring, airway obstruction, and possiblyobstructive sleep apnea(OSA),” said Sullivan. “Chronic mouth breathing in sleep can be associated with OSA in both adults and children.”

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Is Mouth Taping Dangerous?

Breathing through your nose instead of your mouth can have benefits, but experts say taping your mouth shut at night can be risky—especially if you try it without talking to your healthcare provider first.

“Blanket approaches like taping—without thinking through the ‘why’ behind the presence of chronic oral breathing in sleep in the first place—is not the best approach,” Sullivan said.

The potential dangers of mouth taping include:

Sullivan said mouth taping could be especially risky for people who have breathing problems, including people with obstructive sleep apnea,chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD),asthma,deviated septum,sinusitis, orallergic rhinitiscausing nasal obstruction.

“[Mouth taping] could be problematic for people who have anxiety, and risky for people on certain medications that change their ability to rouse from sleep,” Sullivan said. “Speaking from a medical perspective, there is not enough evidence to make statements about clear health benefits or safety. I advise folks to discuss their situation with a healthcare provider.”

Shannon Sullivan, MDSpeaking from a medical perspective, there is not enough evidence to make statements about clear health benefits or safety.

Shannon Sullivan, MD

Speaking from a medical perspective, there is not enough evidence to make statements about clear health benefits or safety.

Mouth Taping Alternatives for Better Sleep

If you want toimprove your sleep hygiene, mouth taping is not your only option. Dasgupta suggests starting with some lifestyle and behavioral changes:

Dasgupta said if you want to breathe through your nose during sleep, there are some alternatives to mouth taping to consider trying, including:

Even learning to play a wind instrument can help improve your breathing during sleep.

What This Means For You

If you want to sleep better and breathe through your mouth less at night, there are safer and more effective ways to do it. If you’re still curious, don’t try taping your mouth at night without talking to your provider first.

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2 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Valipour A.The role of the nose in obstructive sleep apnea: a short review.Pneumologie. 2014;68(6):397-400. doi:10.1055/s-0034-1365488Koo SK, Park GH, Koh TK, Jung SH, Lee HB, Ji CL.Effect of mouth closure on upper airway obstruction in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea exhibiting mouth breathing: a drug-induced sleep endoscopy study.Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;277(6):1823-1828. doi:10.1007/s00405-020-05904-0

2 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Valipour A.The role of the nose in obstructive sleep apnea: a short review.Pneumologie. 2014;68(6):397-400. doi:10.1055/s-0034-1365488Koo SK, Park GH, Koh TK, Jung SH, Lee HB, Ji CL.Effect of mouth closure on upper airway obstruction in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea exhibiting mouth breathing: a drug-induced sleep endoscopy study.Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;277(6):1823-1828. doi:10.1007/s00405-020-05904-0

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Valipour A.The role of the nose in obstructive sleep apnea: a short review.Pneumologie. 2014;68(6):397-400. doi:10.1055/s-0034-1365488Koo SK, Park GH, Koh TK, Jung SH, Lee HB, Ji CL.Effect of mouth closure on upper airway obstruction in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea exhibiting mouth breathing: a drug-induced sleep endoscopy study.Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;277(6):1823-1828. doi:10.1007/s00405-020-05904-0

Valipour A.The role of the nose in obstructive sleep apnea: a short review.Pneumologie. 2014;68(6):397-400. doi:10.1055/s-0034-1365488

Koo SK, Park GH, Koh TK, Jung SH, Lee HB, Ji CL.Effect of mouth closure on upper airway obstruction in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea exhibiting mouth breathing: a drug-induced sleep endoscopy study.Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2020;277(6):1823-1828. doi:10.1007/s00405-020-05904-0

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