Mouth breathing

[thelmuth]

Well, I saved up the money and paid for O/W cert. today, my birthday present. I started the online lessons and finished 8 of 16 chapters tonight. I need to check my schedule at work on Monday and if I can take Friday off I will do my dives this weekend, otherwise I will have to wait at least 2 weeks. I don't think I can wait that long.

My son did the PADI course a couple months ago and I watched the video and read his book at that time. I actually finished the reading before him. I chose not to go with the same LDS as him for a couple reasons and the LDS I chose came highly recommended by several people.

The LDS I am using left PADI a while ago and are certifying under SDI, mainly using the online course for bookwork. They also offer many advanced courses including cave and rebreather. I want to get through O/W and have several dives logged before I even considering going farther.

I think my biggest concern initially is breathing thru my mouth for an extended period. I have always been a nose breather and have tried mouth breathing quite a bit recently, but my mouth dries out very quickly, yet I seem to produce a lot of saliva that I have to swallow frequently if that makes any sense. Growing up on the Gulf Coast of Florida I have spent a lot of time in the water and don't have an issue swimming underwater without a mask, or clearing a mask, (which seems to be a problem for many) but I have never liked snorkeling because of the mouth breathing part. Any suggestions on how to get past this?

Thanks for your help.
Tim

 

[Fotoz4FX]

Simple... buy a full-face mask (however, you'll still have to do skills to pass the course).

The problem with full-face masks... when performing your flooding skills, there is a lot more air-space to purge.

In other words, you might want to learn to mouth-breathe and ALL of us get a dry mouth with de-humidified air (what you're breathing from those tanks).

 

[SkipperJohn]

I just got certified less than a week ago. My 4 OW dives lasted around 40 minutes each. I never thought about the mouth breathing thing nor did I think it would bother me but it sure did. And it's worse because the air in the tank is dry. On the first dive I had a little water before hand. I learned my lesson the hard way. On the second I drank 4 or 5 cups of water (& noticed everyone else doing the same). It wasn't so bad. During the dive I made an effort to swallow my saliva rather than let it go & played with doing different things like keeping my tongue o0n the roof of my mouth and breathing through the sides. I think my tricks worked because my next 3 dives weren't so bad. Also, bring along some hard candy. After a dive this seems to help you moisten things up again.

 

[thelmuth]

Thanks for sharing your experience Skipper. Drink a lot before and have some hard candy for after, got it.

 

[don Francisco]

The dry mouth is something you just get used to. Essentially breathing compressed air is like being in Arizona, except it's slightly dryer. If you can produce enough saliva to keep your mouth moist, so much the better, otherwise as skipper said, eat hard candy or fresh fruit between dives.

If you find the dry mouth unbearable, there's an inline device that is supposed to filter and re-moisten the air between the first and second stage of your regs. I've no idea how well it works, if at all, but it might be an option to explore.