Our Oakville Physio’s, RMT’s, Chiropodists and Yoga Therapists all wear medical masks throughout their day at work.

Wearing them for so long, many of us are aware that we’ve been spending more time mouth breathing.

Is wearing your mask making you more of a mouth breather too?

There are many surprising negatives about being a consistent mouth breather rather than a nose breather. It is generally much healthier to breath through your nose rather than your mouth.

The resting position of your jaw and mouth should be as such:

• Lips closed gently
• Tongue rests gently on the roof of your mouth behind the front teeth (not pressure the teeth)
• Teeth rest around 3mm apart (molars are not touching)

Negatives of Mouth-Breathing:

• Mouth breathing is be associated with snoring and sleep apnea
• Can cause bad breath through altering the bacterial population in the mouth
• Leads to dry mouth, teeth, tongue and gums. This alters levels of acid in the mouth and can lead to tooth decay
• Some evidence shows that ADHD symptoms can be exacerbated with mouth breathing
• Mouth breathers can have altered head and neck positioning. This can lead to neck pain and tension as well as TMJ (Jaw) pain.

Positives of Nose-Breathing:

• Removal/ filtering of germs, irritants and bacteria
• Nitros Oxide is released in the nasal passages and follows the inhaled air into the lungs. This is important to immune responses and vasoregulation.
• The nose and nasal passages warm and humidify the air inhaled
• Breathing in and out of your nose keeps air in the lungs for longer. This can increase the amount of oxygen that enters the blood stream with each breath.
• Allows for better jaw, neck and shoulder posture.
• Allows for better mouth, jaw and facial development.

Check in with yourself during the day in and out of your mask.

What is your resting state of breathing?

Try and revisit the above resting state of breathing we discussed.

Many people our Oakville Physio’s and Massage Therapists treat with neck, shoulder and TMJ issues can benefit from revisiting this type of breathing. Our Yoga Therapist does and excellent job linking this breath with stretching and movement. This helps it become more natural once again.

Contact us to book in with one of our professionals. We are able to direct bill to most insurance companies. We continue to see people in- person from the surrounding Oakville, Milton and Burlington areas and virtually (video call) from all over Ontario!