Wearing a snoring chin strap helps to keep your airways free from obstruction so that you breathe properly while sleeping. Which is the best chin strap to buy? Read our anti snoring chin strap reviews to find out.
Anti Snoring Chin Strap Reviews
A snoring chinstrap is designed to go over your head, hold your mouth closed, and keep your lower jaw in a defined position as you sleep.
The effectiveness of a chin strap depends on the model. Some straps won’t stay in place when you toss and turn and will therefore not be effective in keeping your jaw closed or extended as expected of them.
Do Chin Straps Work for Snoring?
Chronic snoring can be a pain especially when it reduces your daytime productivity. Snoring uses your energy. Therefore, when you snore at night, you wake up in the morning feeling fatigued. Snoring can also be a health risk. Therefore, it should not be left unattended for too long.
When diagnosed with snoring, your doctor may recommend you buy a mouthpiece (TSD or MAD). There are also other options like anti-snoring sprays as well as anti-snoring chin straps.
How Anti Snoring Chinstraps Work
Using anti-snoring chin straps to combat sleeping problem is not as complicated as using other anti-snore devices. All you have to do is to fit it around your face just like a sling.
There are two types of snorers; nose snorers and mouth snorers. Chin straps are effective stop snore devices for mouth snorers.
The tongue, throat and jaw muscles relax when you fall asleep. This causes your chin to drop down and in turn, unconsciously, opens your mouth. As a result, you will start snoring. Also, in its relaxed state, the tongue will block your airway and therefore contribute to snoring.
The best snoring chin straps not only keep your mouth closed but also maintain the jaw in the right position. Thus, your airway will be free from tongue blockage. This means you will have a sound sleep.
Snoring chinstraps are made of a special fabric that is fitted around your head with straps.
Some chinstraps have small openings on the sides for your ears fit into and keep the strap in place. There are also those that are not designed with these slits. The chinstraps without slits are likely to slide off when you toss and turn in your sleep. As a result, these snoring devices may therefore be less effective.
The bottom part of the chinstrap is the one that helps to stop you from snoring. The part goes under your jaw and extends it forward while keeping your mouth closed at the same time.
When the jaw is held in a forward position, the tongue is prevented from falling back into the throat and obstructing the airway.
According to statistics, 80 percent of people snore due to their mouths being open. The chinstrap helps to prevent this cause of snoring.
The snoring sound is a result of vibrations caused when air passes the throat forcefully due to some obstruction. The obstruction could be due to a slip of your tongue into your throat when you are in unconscious sleep. Excessive fatty tissues in the throat can also obstruct the airway.
Apart from the obstruction of the airways, there are other causes of snoring. Therefore, even people with small throats can also snore.
Chinstraps help to prevent the most common cause of snoring: obstruction of the throat airways when you are asleep. The devices are comfortable and not as complicated as other anti snoring equipment.
Who Should Use Snoring Chin Strap?
Chinstraps are a good first option for people who have just been diagnosed or have discovered they need to manage their snoring condition. People who have tried different snoring products but have not found satisfaction, maybe due to the products being uncomfortable, can also try chin-straps.
Unlike other anti-snoring devices, chin straps are non-invasive. You don’t have to put them in your mouth. Moreover, they don’t have to be prepared and are relatively comfortable to wear.
You could also use a chin strap as an extra device for managing your snoring. If you have been using anti-snoring devices for a long time, you probably have a number of them at your disposal.
Mandibular Advancement Devices and Tongue Stabilizing Devices are effective at controlling snoring. However, sleeping with them on for many nights can be exhausting. You can use an anti-snoring chin strap for a change.
Chin Straps Do Not Require Any Preparations
Maintaining mouth anti-snore devices can be quite challenging. The devices have to be cleaned regularly, sometimes with special cleaning agents like denture cleaners. Buying the cleaners adds to the cost of maintaining the devices.
Apart from cleaning, the mouthpieces require time to be accurately prepared for them to be effective.
Snoring chin straps do not have to be prepared nor do they have a tedious maintenance process. You won’t have to use the boil-and-bite technique, which sometimes requires several trials to get right, as is with MADs. There is also no suction adjustment to be done like is that case with TSDs.
The only preparation required with chin straps is to get them from the box and fit them over your head. No special equipment is needed to clean them. Simply put the devices in the laundry with your clothes, wash and dry them. Chin straps are mainly made of comfortable fabric that won’t irritate your skin.
You can buy a chin strap band of the size you are most comfortable with. After choosing the desired size, you are good to go.
How effective are chin straps?
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine conducted research that concluded that using a chin strap solely will not effectively stop your snoring or treat OSA.
How comfortable are chin straps?
While I have seen some users applauding chin straps for their comfort while sleeping, others find them extremely uncomfortable. However, there are brands that make adjustable chin straps. These straps can be fit according to your preferences.
Can Chin Straps be used by anyone?
Chin straps are not ideally suitable for everyone. People with blocked noses, in particular, tend to breathe through the mouth to make up for the air shortage. Such people will find chin straps limiting and uncomfortable. In addition, someone with a blocked nose will be exposed to serious risk when they wear a chin strap, seeing that the body will be having oxygen shortage.
Chin Straps and TMJ
Temporomandibular Joint Disorder (TJD) is a medical complication of the temporomandibular joint. The condition causes problems like headaches, clicking sounds in the jaw, dizziness, locked jaws, tinnitus and even bite problems.
Because the chins straps work by keeping the jaw in place, people suffering from TMJ should avoid them as they can make their condition worse.
Which chin straps are available in the market?
There are numerous chin strap brands in the market. Some of the best chin straps you can buy include Super Deluxe, Premium Chin Straps and Ruby produced by Avlon, Neoprene and Happy Sleep.
My Night Experience with Chin Straps
The prospect of having something over your head the whole night and sleeping with your jaws tightly closed can be scary to think of. I could not imagine how a night with a chinstrap would be like.
I’m a relatively heavy sleeper and I toss and turn wildly in bed. Therefore, I was also worried that I may not sleep the whole night with the chin strap as it would somehow slip off.
However, the first and consecutive nights with the band were actually an awesome experience. The strap fit snugly on my head and did not move until the morning. The jaw supporter was relatively firm and I did not get any uncomfortable feeling.
I was using My Snoring Solution, which goes around the eyes. I guess that’s why the strap was firm on my head. I have average-sized ears. However, if you have small ears, there is nothing to worry about. You simply need to choose a strap that will fit you perfectly.
Advantages of Anti-Snoring Chin Straps
Can be worn safely even if you have pre-existing dental conditions
Dental structures like caps, crowns and dentures, and loose teeth are always a problem for people who want to purchase anti-snoring devices like TSDs and MADs.
The difference between anti-snoring chin straps and anti-snoring oral gadgets is that the latter have to be put in the mouth. Therefore, they could possibly interfere with dental structures. Since chinstraps are worn on the outside, you can safely use to control snoring without worrying about your teeth.
No exhaustion from having a full mouth
If you have tried TSDs or MADs, you might be familiar with the full mouth feeling brought about from wearing the gadget in your mouth the whole day. Even though some gadgets aren’t really invasive, it can still be exhilarating wearing them every single night.
A chin strap is a welcome idea as it does not get into the mouth.
No setup required
MADs, for example, use the boil-and-bite technique. Therefore, they could be compromised if you undertake the process way too many times. However, with snoring chin straps this risk is eliminated as no such preparation is required.
Portable and easy to store
Some anti snoring gadgets take up a lot of space and are hectic to move around with. On the other hand, chin strap can be stored virtually anywhere, from your handbag to the side pockets of your travelling bag.
When you finally pull them out in your new location, you won’t be embarrassed to wear them!
Irritation-free and comfortable
The materials used to make some oral anti-snoring gadgets can irritate the gums and mouth. There is no such fear with chinstraps. The equipment are made of a comfortable fabric that is soft to the skin and gives a good feeling the side of the face, the lower jaw and hair.
No preparation is required
Anti-snoring chin straps don’t require any suction adjustments or any boil-and-bite technique to get the correct fitting. If you chose the correct size of chin strap, you will be ready to go to bed with it after pull it from the package box.
They are durable
TSDs and MADs have a comparably short lifespan compared to chin straps. You will have to wear the chin straps for a considerable amount of time to even get a tear or for them to be worn out to require a whole replacement. There is also no risk of the chin straps breaking, especially if you choose a fitting one.
Ease to maintain and clean
Chin straps by far one of the simplest anti-snoring gadgets to maintain. Cleaning anti-snoring chin straps is as easy as doing your laundry.
Disadvantages of Anti-Snoring Chin Straps
Not recommended for mouth breathers
Since a chin strap is wrapped over your head and needs you to close your mouth, breathing through your mouth will be impossible. Therefore, you need to be a nasal breather to use it.
If you are a mouth breather, wearing a chin strap could be a health risk, unless your mouth breathing is not frequent and only comes due to occasional blocked nose, sinus or allergies. In such a case, you can use a chin strap but also have a different gadget to change in case you would need to breathe through your mouth.
My Verdict
Anti-snoring chin straps are an excellent option for controlling snoring. Both nasal and mouth snorers can take advantage of them, except if your mouth snoring is due to a deviated septum or permanent nasal blockage.
I had a wonderful experience with My Snoring Solution (MSS) anti-snoring chin strap. Today, I frequently use it as one of my top rotation devices for controlling my snoring.
MSS comes in a variety of sizes. You can choose a device that fits your head perfectly not to fall off through the night.
If you are looking for your very first anti-snoring gadget, you could check out My Snoring Solution chin strap here and other reviews of other anti-snoring gadgets.
