Mouth Taping and Other Breathing Trends: Claims and Evidence

Urgent first

If anyone has trouble breathing after mouth taping, remove the tape and get help; call 911 in the US if breathing does not settle. A systematic review found a potentially serious risk of harm for people who tape indiscriminately, including asphyxiation when the nose is blocked. [1] If you worry you may have sleep apnea, see a clinician first; our sleep apnea page gives the background.

The clear rule

This site does not recommend taping the mouth shut during sleep. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) says viral sleep trends are at best unproven, and at worst, like mouth taping, can be extremely dangerous. [2] Information only; this is not medical advice.

What mouth taping is and what is claimed

Mouth taping means placing tape over the lips at night to encourage nose breathing. A scoping review that searched TikTok found the most common claims were improved sleep and oral health. [3] An Instagram study of 390 reels found 94.4% endorsed mouth taping, most were made by companies (55.4%) and only 11.6% by medical professionals. [4] Supportive posts were shared more than critical ones. [4] Popularity here reflects marketing and algorithms, not proof.

What reviews found

1. Overall benefit and harm

   Insufficient evidence

   A systematic review of 10 studies (213 patients) found 2 with significant improvement in sleep apnea markers; others found no difference [1]

2. Safety

   Safety concern

   The same review discussed risks including asphyxiation in the presence of nasal obstruction, and said many studies excluded anyone with nasal obstruction [1]

3. Consistency

   Insufficient evidence

   A scoping review called the literature markedly heterogeneous with little consensus on benefits [3]

4. Meta-analysis

   Insufficient evidence

   A 2026 review could not pool mouth taping data and narratively reviewed only 2 studies [5]

5. Asthma

   No good evidence of benefit

   A scoping review reports a study that found no benefit [3]

The studies behind the better results

One preliminary study enrolled 20 mouth-breathers with mild obstructive sleep apnea who tolerated sealing of the mouth. [6] Each person was compared with their own baseline test, and the taped test came one week later. [6] The median apnea-hypopnea index fell from 8.3 to 4.7 events an hour. [6] Limits: it was small, short and had no separate control group, and it included only people who tolerated tape. This does not show that taping is safe or helpful for the general public, for moderate or severe apnea, or for people with a blocked nose. The review authors concluded there is a potentially serious risk of harm for people who tape indiscriminately. [1]

For asthma, a randomized single-blind crossover trial of 51 people found that taping the mouth at night had no effect on asthma control. [7] The taping followed the Buteyko technique, a named breathing method that uses it at night. [7]

Other breathing gadget trends

Nasal strips, chin straps, mouth guards and "breathing trainers" are sold with similar claims. For these, proper evidence is not found in the sources we read for this page, which looked at mouth taping only. See mouth tape, nasal strips and airway devices and breathing trainer devices for what that library covers.

Better first steps

If you snore or wake unrefreshed, talk to a clinician about testing for sleep apnea and about nasal blockage. See nasal vs mouth breathing and breathing exercises and sleep apnea.