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→Mouth Breathing
The tongue trick is where you want to be but it takes a lot of time and some people just cannot get it. Place the tongue on the roof of your mouth and breathe with your mouth shut. Breathing thru your nose, right? Now leaving the tongue where it is open your mouth, you should still be breathing thru your nose. Now that you have that down move your tongue, breathing thru your mouth right? OK, put your mask on, under pressure, and repeat the above. Expect to need to turn your machine off when you start to repeat. Add talking while under pressure, It takes a while to get any of this down. It took me months. The exercises above are to help you understand the positions that cause the issue and how to correct it. For all this to become automatic will take a while.
'''Cervical Collar'''. A "soft" Cervical Collar (Releaf is popular). This helps support and align the neck and keeps the jaw/mouth from dropping. This is becoming a very popular option. Rarely used prior to mid 2016. Users are posting a high success rate with this device. When OA tends to occur in clusters at different times of night. It's an indication that an obstruction may have occurred when the chin tucks towards the chest. It's common, and the solution is either an ergonomic pillow or soft cervical collar that prevents the neck and head from being out of alignment and cutting off the airway, but they can be comfortable, prevent leaks and prevent an airway from closing up due to tucking your chin to chest and other issues. An Anti-Snoring collaror Sleep Collar, which has a small strap in back also works. (Dr. Dakota is popular)
It's a very small investment that has worked very well for some people. More pressure may solve the obstruction, or it might go away with positional therapy.
'''Chin Strap.''' A chin strap is to manage mouth leaks from a variety of causes. Most result from the jaw-dropping or opening either partially or wider. The chin strap is to '''''gently''''' keep the jaw closed. If you have to crank it shut to make it work this is not the correct solution. Note that your jaw is strong enough to open if it wants to. There is one chinstrap that is notably different than others, the Ultimate Chinstrap, Knightsbridge Dual Chin Strap which pulls up instead of back. Search for it if you desire.
'''Ergonomic Pillow''' or CPAP Pillow, The purpose is to maintain a proper head and neck alignment while allowing for the mask maintaining the seal in multiple positions.
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