# What's the "harm," if any, in breathing through one's mouth?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-harm-if-any-in-breathing-through-ones-mouth/518359>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 21, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-harm-if-any-in-breathing-through-ones-mouth/518359 "2009-11-21T01:05:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-harm-if-any-in-breathing-through-ones-mouth/518359/21 "2010-12-16T14:48:04Z")

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Your mouth dries out. Dry mouth leads to unpleasant things. Your teeth don’t fair as well. Thrush is harder to avoid. You get stinky breath easier.

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-harm-if-any-in-breathing-through-ones-mouth/518359/22 "2010-12-16T15:07:32Z")

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One other thing that comes to my mind: all other things being equal breathing through the mouth might be considered not a cause but an effect of something harmful: a low level of physical fitness.

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