Is mouth taping safe? What the evidence says

What’s going on

Mouth taping means putting tape over your lips at night so you breathe through your nose. It spread on social media as a fix for snoring, dry mouth and poor sleep. A 2023 survey by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) found 12% of adults had tried it.

The idea isn’t silly. Breathing through your nose warms and moistens the air, and mouth breathing can narrow the airway.

The problem is that tape doesn’t fix why your mouth opens in the first place. Often that’s a stuffy nose, and taping over the only other airway is the risk.

The AASM calls mouth taping one of the trends that “can be extremely dangerous.” Cleveland Clinic’s sleep experts say it isn’t part of their practice for any sleep disorder.

What the 2025 review found

In 2025, a team of head and neck surgeons published a systematic review in PLOS One. They searched 25 years of research and found only 10 studies that met their criteria. Each had between 9 and 71 people.

Here is what they reported:

1. Few studies showed a benefit. Six studies measured breathing pauses per hour (the apnea-hypopnea index). The authors counted only two that showed a clear improvement. Both enrolled only people with mild apnea.
2. The gains were small. In those two studies, the pause count fell from about 8 to 5, and from 12 to 8, per hour. The authors said it’s unclear whether that matters for health.
3. The studies were weak. By the scale the authors used, every study was poor quality. Some didn’t test tape at all; two used chin straps.
4. Safety was a real concern. Four studies warned that closing the mouth could cause suffocation if the nose is blocked or if you vomit. Many studies excluded anyone with a blocked nose, so the results don’t apply to them.

The authors concluded that the evidence doesn’t support mouth taping for people with sleep-disordered breathing. They called for better studies before anyone draws firm conclusions.

That’s why this site rates mouth tape Weak + warning.

Who should never tape their mouth

Don’t use mouth tape, of any shape, if any of these apply:

• Your nose is blocked. That includes a cold, allergies, a sinus infection, a deviated septum, nasal polyps or enlarged tonsils. Tape leaves you with a single airway that isn’t working.
• You might have sleep apnea. Loud snoring with pauses, gasping or choking, or heavy daytime sleepiness needs a sleep test, not tape. Tape can hide the snoring without treating the apnea.
• You’ve had alcohol or a sedative. Alcohol, sleeping pills and similar drugs relax your throat muscles and can make nighttime breathing worse.
• You feel sick or might vomit. A stomach bug, nausea or bad reflux raises the risk the review flagged. Your mouth has to be free to clear your airway.
• It’s for a child. A child who snores or breathes through the mouth at night should see a pediatrician. See snoring in children.
• You have heart or lung problems, or feel anxious with tape on. Cleveland Clinic lists heart issues among its reasons never to tape. Tape can also cause skin irritation and rashes.

No mouth tape has FDA clearance. That means the FDA hasn’t reviewed any of them for safety or for claims about snoring.

What helps instead

These options are safer. They’re listed from cheapest up.

1. Sleep on your side. Sleeping on your side Some helps many people whose snoring is worse on their back.
2. Skip alcohol near bedtime. Less alcohol Some, especially in the hours before bed, can reduce snoring. The AASM lists it among the first steps for everyone who snores.
3. Treat a stuffy nose. If your nose is often blocked, that’s likely why your mouth falls open. The AAO-HNS notes that a nasal steroid spray or other allergy care helps some people; ask a doctor or pharmacist.
4. Try nasal strips or dilators. Nasal strips and dilators Weak can help air move through the nose. They haven’t been shown to improve sleep apnea. See nasal strips vs. nasal dilators.
5. Lose weight, if you carry extra. Weight loss Strong has strong support for sleep apnea, and the AASM recommends it for snoring too.
6. Ease a dry mouth. A humidifier Weak may make a dry mouth or throat more comfortable, though it hasn’t been studied for snoring.

For a fuller plan, see how to stop snoring.

What a dentist or doctor can do

A physician can look for the reason you breathe through your mouth. An ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist can check for a deviated septum, swollen turbinates or a collapsing nasal valve. Some of these can be treated in the office.

If snoring comes with pauses, gasping or daytime sleepiness, a physician can order a sleep test. Only a physician can diagnose sleep apnea.

A dentist can check for signs of mouth breathing, such as a dry mouth and gum irritation. For snoring that a physician has checked, a jaw-advancing mouthpiece Strong has far stronger evidence than tape. See do snoring mouthpieces work?

Is ring-shaped tape any safer?

Some brands, such as MyoTape, make a ring-shaped strip that sits around the lips and leaves the center open. The maker says this means the mouth is never fully sealed. That’s a sensible design idea, but it’s the maker’s claim, not a tested safety result.

The same warnings still apply. Don’t use any kind of mouth tape with a blocked nose, possible sleep apnea, alcohol or sedatives, or nausea. And don’t use it on a child, even though some brands sell a kids’ version.

If you’re a healthy adult who breathes easily through your nose and has no apnea signs, the risk is lower. Even then, the benefit is unproven, and the safer steps above are worth trying first.