SynthesisPloS one2025
Breaking social media fads and uncovering the safety and efficacy of mouth taping in patients with mouth breathing, sleep disordered breathing, or obstructive sleep apnea: A systematic review.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Spread of Non-Evidence-Based Health Claims on Social Media: The Case of #Mouthtape on Instagram, a Cross-Sectional Study.Dentistry journal · 2026Article
- A cross-sectional analysis of the quality and characteristics of sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome videos on YouTube, Bilibili, and TikTok.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Independent association of serum IgA levels with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea in children with adenotonsillar hypertrophy.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial media has contributed to a potentially unsafe trend of nighttime mouth taping for individuals with mouth breathing, sleep disordered breathing, or sleep apnea as a home remedy to treat these issues. This systematic review is aimed to highlight any potential benefits or harms with this practice.
methodsA comprehensive librarian-designed literature search was performed using PRISMA guidelines. Using search terms, "mouth taping, adhesive mouthpiece, porous oral patch, surgical tape, breathing mouthpiece, sleep, microsleep, breath, breathing, or mouth breathing", MEDLINE, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched from February 1999 to February 2024. Covidence software was used for screening and data entry performed into a data collection sheet designed a priori.
resultsCovidence software was utilized to screen 120 articles. After 34 duplicates were removed, 86 articles were screened by two independent reviewers. Sixty-two were excluded. Twenty-four went on to full text review and 10 met inclusion criteria with a total of 213 patients. Two studies showed statistically significant improvement in established markers of sleep apnea such as apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) or oxygen desaturations. Other studies showed that mouth taping offered no differences and even discussed potential risks including asphyxiation in the presence of nasal obstruction. Many studies excluded anyone with nasal obstruction or pathology.
conclusionThe social media trend of mouth taping for individuals with mouth breathing, sleep disordered breathing, or sleep apnea has been reviewed. Based on the data presented by these 10 different studies, it seems that there is a potentially serious risk of harm for individuals indiscriminately practicing this trend. Further studies are required to elucidate any clinical benefit this practice may have.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.