What to know before buying a stop snoring mouthpiece

So, you or your partner snores. It’s frustrating to have your night’s sleep interrupted by the rumblings of a snorer, but you don’t have to endure it. With the right anti-snoring device, you can restore quiet to your bedroom and have a peaceful sleep that lasts the entire night. Once you’ve narrowed down the type of stop snoring device you think will work best for you, it’s time to make a purchase. All devices will claim to stop snoring, but many don’t actually address the primary reason snoring begins in the first place. Your airway is most often the culprit. If it’s partially blocked, either by your tongue or throat tissue, you have a higher chance of snoring. Stop snoring mouthpieces are specially designed to address the narrowing of your airway. Their design shifts your lower jaw slightly forward. This positioning prevents your tongue from falling back against your throat and is medically proven to help decrease the chance of snoring. Just as there are a variety of stop snoring devices available on the market, so are there a few options when it comes to mouthpieces. Unfortunately, not all of them are created equal, so it’s important to watch for red flags when researching devices before you buy.

Certain claims or guarantees can make a stop snoring device very attractive to potential buyers, yet there isn’t really a way to know whether companies are being truthful on their websites. Because marketing copy isn’t highly regulated for its truthfulness, it’s important to do your own due diligence and check up in a few key areas.

This coveted status automatically improves the reputation of a product. FDA Clearance ensures that a mouthpiece is made from safe materials, that the design has been proven to be effective in treating snoring, and that the mouthpieces are manufactured in a clean FDA-inspected factory. Not having this can seriously lower a consumer’s confidence in a specific device, which is why some companies will say they have it when they don’t.You can easily verify whether or not a product has actually been FDA Cleared by searching the FDA database. Simply enter in the name of the device and get confirmation that their claim of FDA approval is accurate. You can also verify that the device really does treat snoring as well. Many devices that claim to stop snoring mouthpieces are actually nightguards and only indicated to treat nighttime clenching or grinding. While they meet the standards of the FDA, their intended use doesn’t address snoring at all. It might not be clear on a product website exactly what the FDA device approval covers, so be sure that the device is listed as “Device- Anti-Snoring” on the FDA database..

Another popular piece of marketing content used to lure in consumers involves the reputation of the device and the company who makes it. Bold adjectives come into play to tout the perfection of the user experience, but this information could only be based on a small sample of customers. It will most definitely exclude any negative feedback they’ve received, so it may be necessary to dig a little deeper.Better Business Bureau (BBB) ratings are a good place to go to get a truthful explanation of a company’s reputation before you purchase their stop snoring mouthpiece. A business may claim to have a high BBB rating, but again it’s easy to verify the accuracy of this statement with a quick search. Ratings from the BBB are determined through a variety of factors. The highest numerical score a business can get is a 100, but an A+ rating sits within the 97-100 range. Factors that can decrease your rating include:

• Complaint history
• Whether your business raises market concerns and operates within the law
• Availability of reliable information on how long the business has existed
• Transparency about marketplace conduct
• Whether they honor their commitments
• Having proper licensing and no government actions against them
• Lack of truthfulness and accuracy in advertising

Unanswered and unresolved complaints hit a BBB score the hardest, and the higher complaint volume a company has, the lower their score will be.With so many factors contributing to a BBB score, getting a high rating demonstrates the quality you will get with a specific business. That includes the likelihood of being happy with the product. For example, ZQuiet has earned an A+ rating from the BBB. As one option for stop snoring mouthpieces, this verifiable rating demonstrates how seriously ZQuiet takes their product’s effectiveness and their customers’ experience. Get the real scoop on how other stop snoring mouthpiece companies rate.

Creating an FDA-cleared device is a costly endeavor. As such, price can serve as an easy indicator for the level of quality put into a specific stop snoring device. Because FDA-cleared devices follow medical device protocol, they are typically safer and more effective to use. They should also be on the more expensive side of the scale when looking at a variety of mouthpieces.Inexpensive devices, while more appealing to your wallet, can be made from questionable material, which can present a safety issue for consumers. A cheap mouthpiece should automatically be suspect, regardless of what guarantees the company makes through their advertising.

Consider what features you need in a mouthpiece

After vetting potential stop snoring mouthpieces to find ones whose claims are correct and whose device is of the right quality, it’s time to think about the features you’d want to have for the most comfortable night’s sleep. Some questions to think about include:

• Customization

  - How well will the mouthpiece fit to your mouth? Will you have to boil-and-bite the device to mold it to your teeth or does the device offer different size options to find your best fit?

• Comfort

  - How bulky is the mouthpiece? Slimmer devices can often be more comfortable. How much will I be able to move my jaw? With a locked design, you will have limited mobility when using the mouthpiece, which can create discomfort. A hinged design provides greater flexibility, possibly allowing you to move your mouth enough to speak while the device is in place.

• Adjustability

  - What options are available to modify the distance the mouthpiece moves your jaw forward? Remember to always start on the smallest adjustment measurement and increase only if that setting doesn’t stop your snoring.

• Breathability

  - How large is the opening in the device to breathe through? Especially if you breathe through your mouth while you sleep, you need a mouthpiece with a large enough opening between the top and bottom pieces so that you don’t feel as if breathing is restricted