Mouth breathing and forward head posture: what the research shows

Studies have linked mouth breathing with forward head posture, where the head sits in front of the shoulders instead of over them. Most of that research is in children, the studies are small and of low quality, and not all of them agree. In adults the link is weaker still, and nobody has shown that mouth breathing causes the posture rather than simply showing up alongside it. The practical takeaway is simple: fix what's blocking your nose, work on posture directly, and keep your mouth closed at night if your nose is clear.

What are the negative effects of mouth breathing?

The most common negative effects of mouth breathing are everyday ones. Cleveland Clinic lists bad breath, drooling in sleep, dry mouth, feeling tired all the time, hoarseness and snoring as common symptoms in both children and adults. In children, it adds that mouth breathing can change the shape of the face, with a narrow face, a receding chin or jaw, or teeth that don't line up.

Cleveland Clinic is also clear that the stakes differ by age. It says mouth breathing in adults isn't a serious health issue, while in children it can affect growth and behavior. Posture sits further down the list. It's one of the less obvious effects researchers have looked at, and the evidence is weaker than for dry mouth or snoring. Our article on the effects of mouth breathing at night covers the rest.

What did studies in children find about posture?

Studies in children found a link between mouth breathing and posture, but a weak one. The best summary is a 2018 systematic review in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy. It pooled 10 studies covering 417 children aged 5 to 14 who had been diagnosed as mouth breathers. Its conclusion was that there is low evidence that mouth breathing in this age group is associated with postural deviations.

The reviewers were blunt about quality. Every study scored low on their checklist, with common problems including unclear descriptions of the children, unclear methods for measuring posture, no account of confounding factors, no power calculations, and assessors who knew which children were mouth breathers.

Other studies point in different directions:

• A 2018 study in Jornal de Pediatria compared 98 children and teenagers aged 7 to 16, measured with X-rays and an airflow sensor. Mouth breathers had smaller airways, and teenage mouth breathers had some differences in face length and the position of the hyoid bone in the neck. There was no significant difference in head posture.
• A 2026 study in the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics followed children with enlarged adenoids. Those who had early surgery breathed and grew more like nose-breathing children, but posture measurements didn't differ among any of the three groups.

So the picture in children is mixed. Some studies find more forward head posture in mouth breathers, the overall evidence is low quality, and two careful recent studies found no posture difference at all. For what to watch for in kids, see mouth breathing in children.

Why might the head move forward?

One explanation is that tilting the head forward helps keep the airway open. This is a theory rather than a proven mechanism, but one study offers a hint. A 2011 study in the Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia looked at 92 children aged 8 to 12, 30 of them mouth breathers. Among nose breathers, children with moderate forward head posture had stronger breathing muscles than those with normal posture. The authors concluded that moderate forward head posture acted as a compensatory mechanism to improve breathing muscle function.

The same study found mouth breathers had weaker breathing muscles and walked a shorter distance in a six-minute walking test than nose breathers. That's a reminder that the effects researchers measure may be about breathing as much as about posture.

If forward head posture is partly an adaptation, it would explain why the link is hard to pin down. The posture may come and go with how blocked the airway is, rather than being a fixed result of mouth breathing.

Does mouth breathing affect posture in adults?

Mouth breathing in adults has been linked to posture, but the evidence is very thin. A 2026 systematic review in The Laryngoscope looked only at adults and found 12 studies of chronic or induced mouth breathing. Compared with nose breathers, the mouth breathers adopted a forward head posture and had an increased curve in the lower back. They also had more jaw joint problems and differences in chewing muscle activity. The reviewers rated the certainty of all of this as very low and recommended caution in reading it. No study measured whether any of it caused pain.

One older study looked at whether childhood mouth breathing leaves a mark. A 2011 study in the International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology compared 24 adults aged 18 to 30 who had clinical signs of mouth breathing as children with 20 adults who'd had no breathing problems. The group with a mouth-breathing childhood held their heads further forward and had a deeper lower-back curve. The authors suggested these changes persist into adulthood, though a study this size, taken at one point in time, can't prove that.

Our article on whether mouth breathing changes your face as an adult covers the jaw and facial side of the adult research.

Does mouth breathing cause bad posture, or is it the other way round?

Nobody knows yet, and it's the most important caveat in this whole topic. Almost every study compares mouth breathers and nose breathers at a single point in time. That design can show the two things travel together, but not which one comes first.

Here is how the main findings stack up.

There are plausible ways it could go either direction. Mouth breathing could encourage the head to drift forward to open the airway. Long hours at a desk could push the head forward and leave the jaw resting open. A blocked nose could drive both at once. The research so far can't separate these.

What can you do about mouth breathing and posture?

You can work on both separately, since there's no proof that fixing one fixes the other.

Find out why you mouth breathe

Cleveland Clinic says treatment focuses on the condition that makes nose breathing hard. That can mean antihistamines or steroid nasal sprays for allergies, antihistamines and decongestants for a cold, or surgery such as septoplasty for a deviated septum or turbinate reduction. A doctor can look for the cause. Why do I breathe through my mouth at night? runs through the common ones.

Work on posture directly

The NHS lists bad posture, such as sitting at a desk for a long time, among the most common causes of neck pain. Its advice is to sit upright, roll your shoulders back gently and bring your neck back, and to keep your head at the same height as the rest of your body when you sleep. A physiotherapist can give you specific exercises if you have pain.

Practice nose breathing during the day

Noticing when your mouth is open and closing it is a habit you can build. Our guides to tongue posture and nasal breathing and how to stop mouth breathing at night have practical steps.

Check children early

Cleveland Clinic advises asking your child's pediatrician to check their nose and airway if they often breathe through their mouth or have symptoms like snoring or restless sleep.

Can mouth tape help with nighttime mouth breathing?

Mouth tape can help adults with a clear nose keep their lips closed and breathe through the nose while they sleep. It won't change your posture, and no study has tested it for that. What it can do is support the nose-breathing habit at night, which addresses some of the everyday effects of mouth breathing, like a dry mouth in the morning.

The research on tape is small but encouraging for snoring. In a 2022 study in Healthcare, 20 mouth breathers with mild sleep apnea wore tape during sleep, and 13 of them cut their snoring index by at least half. Researchers treated nasal obstruction with medication and nasal spray first, so participants could breathe comfortably through the nose before taping.

That's the key safety point. Cleveland Clinic's sleep specialist says you should never use mouth tape if you have nasal obstruction, nasal congestion, chronic allergies, a sinus infection, enlarged tonsils, a deviated septum or heart issues. Mouth tape doesn't treat sleep apnea, and loud snoring with gasping or pauses in breathing needs a doctor. We don't recommend mouth tape for children. See is mouth taping safe? before your first night.

Our pick (paid partner): Titan Bamboo Silk Mouth Tape

If you want to try mouth tape for nighttime nose breathing, our pick is Titan Bamboo Silk Mouth Tape. This is our recommendation, not the result of testing or ranking tapes ourselves.

Titan says the strip is bamboo silk, soft, breathable and moisture-wicking, with no printed logo or ink on the side that touches skin. It comes in one oval size worn horizontally across the lips, and Titan suggests 20 to 30 minutes of daytime practice before the first night. Titan says every batch is third-party tested and certified PFAS-free, and its 30-night guarantee refunds you if your sleep isn't better after 30 nights.

Read next

• Can mouth breathing change your face as an adult?
• 9 effects of mouth breathing at night
• How to stop mouth breathing at night

* This content is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or health condition. Talk to a qualified healthcare provider about your health.