If you breathe through your mouth, you risk fatal damage to your health – especially when you are sleeping

Although experts warn against it, many people breathe through their mouths.

This can have serious health consequences.

Stanford - More than half of all people worldwide breathe mainly through the mouth - even though experts warn of serious health risks.

Stanford University has even banned mouth breathing experiments on humans for ethical reasons.

The list of serious consequences of improper breathing is long: tooth loss, high blood pressure and neurological changes in the brain are just a few of them.

Unconscious mouth breathing can be fatal, especially during sleep.

Mouth breathing leads to "pathological consequences"

The Zikarsky practice for oral and maxillofacial surgery and oral surgery in Nuremberg describes: "For adults and children, breathing through the mouth has the same pathological consequences".

Both would develop unhealthy blood gases "while oxygenation of the brain and other organs in the body remain below average".

This would particularly affect children in their development.

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Sleeping with your mouth open risks damaging your health.

© Kiko Jimenez/imago

In adults, on the other hand, the risk of serious diseases such as asthma or cardiovascular diseases would increase.

Mouth breathing would therefore mean that bacteria and viruses would have easier access to the oral cavity and could cause diseases.

In addition, the musculature would be impaired and leads to misalignments of the jaw in both childhood and adulthood.

Stanfort University refrains from experiments with mouth breathing on humans

Due to the serious consequences, Stanford University deliberately refrains from experiments with mouth breathing on humans.

Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University states: "Most of the experimental research that would be needed to further support the theory is neither ethical nor would it fundamentally change our conclusions".

Based on his research, he advises, "Parents should watch their children for signs that their jaw development is going in the wrong direction because of mouth breathing."

Accordingly, snoring, morning sluggishness and sleep disorders are a danger sign.

He describes the resulting jaw misalignments as a modern epidemic.

According to experts, mouth breathing even leads to neurological changes in the brain in the long term and can be the cause of dementia.

Mouth breathing while sleeping causes tooth decay and tooth erosion

The University of Otego has also dealt with the consequences of mouth breathing.

In particular, the focus of the research was on bedtime.

In a recently published study, the research team explains that there are serious consequences if people sleep with their mouths open.

The study states, "The results suggest that mouth breathing during sleep is associated with a decrease in oral pH compared to normal breathing during sleep."

According to the researchers, this is a causal factor for tooth erosion and tooth decay.

Chewing gum for better respiratory muscles

This is particularly problematic for people with an enlarged nasal concha or a bent nasal septum, because those affected are often forced to breathe through their mouth.

However, it is possible to tackle the problem with special breathing exercises designed specifically to train nasal breathing.

Chewing gum can also help strengthen the upper respiratory muscles.

List of rubrics: © Kiko Jimenez/imago