Most of the advice you will read about how to stop snoring is written by someone who has never done it. I have. I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea myself; I tried CPAP, and I could not get on with it. Finding a treatment that actually worked for me changed how I sleep and, in the end, changed my career. I am Dr Andre Schertel, Dentist, and I have spent more than two decades in dentistry and the last few years running Peninsula Snore Clinic in Mt Eliza, treating snoring and sleep apnoea across the Mornington Peninsula. This is what I tell my own patients about how to stop snoring.
First, What Is Actually Happening When You Snore
Snoring is a mechanical problem, not a habit. When you fall asleep, the muscles holding your throat open relax. Your lower jaw and tongue can slip back towards the throat, narrowing the airway. If your airway narrows, the air you breathe has to move faster through a smaller gap; the airflow becomes turbulent, and the surrounding soft tissue starts to vibrate. That vibration is the snoring noise. [1]
Your risk of that narrowing goes up with a set of fairly predictable factors:
- Excess weight, which is the single biggest driver of airway collapse during sleep [2]
- Alcohol in the evening, which relaxes the airway dilator muscles [3]
- Sleeping on your back, which lets gravity pull the tongue and soft palate backwards [4]
- Nasal congestion or blockage, which forces mouth breathing [5]
- Smoking, which inflames and irritates the airway lining [6]
- Your own anatomy, including a set-back lower jaw, a large tongue or tonsils, or a naturally narrow throat
Most people I see have three or four of these at once. That matters, because when it comes to how to stop snoring, there is rarely one single fix.
The Tip of the Iceberg!
Snoring is sometimes just noise. But it is also the most common symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea, a condition where the airway repeatedly collapses and breathing stops during sleep. OSA is far more common than most people assume. In the Busselton Healthy Ageing Study, a large Western Australian study using overnight sleep testing, some degree of sleep apnoea was found in 57.7% of middle-aged men and 41.7% of women, with moderate-to-severe disease in 20.2% and 10.0%, respectively. [7]
It matters because untreated OSA is not benign. The American Heart Association’s scientific statement links it to hypertension, atrial fibrillation, heart failure, coronary artery disease, stroke and cardiovascular mortality. [8] Regular snoring on its own has been associated with uncontrolled blood pressure, independent of apnoea severity, in an Australian study of more than 12,000 people monitored nightly. [9] In people with type 2 diabetes, untreated OSA tracks with markedly worse blood sugar control. [10] And a meta-analysis of working adults found the odds of a car crash were 2.36 times higher in people with OSA. [11]
I am not telling you this to frighten you into an appointment. I am telling you because I spent years snoring and putting it down to being tired and getting older, and I was wrong.
How to Stop Snoring at Home: What Actually Has Evidence Behind It
Start here. When people ask me how to stop snoring, this is where I tell them to begin. These cost nothing, and they work best when you stack several together:
- Address your weight if it is a factor. In the INTERAPNEA randomised trial, an eight-week weight-loss and lifestyle programme reduced the apnoea-hypopnoea index by 51%, and at six months, 61.8% of participants no longer required CPAP. [2] That is a striking result for a non-surgical, non-device intervention.
- Cut back alcohol in the evening. A systematic review and meta-analysis found alcohol worsened breathing during sleep, with a larger effect in snorers and people with diagnosed OSA. [3]
- Get off your back. In positional patients, apnoeas and loud snoring can occur almost exclusively when supine, and positional therapy devices reduced the apnoea-hypopnoea index by over half in a meta-analysis. [4] A body pillow or a firm cushion behind your back is a free version of the same idea.
- Sort out your nose. In a 10-year population study of more than 10,000 adults, nasal symptoms predicted new-onset snoring. [5] Hay fever treatment, saline rinses, or a GP referral for persistent blockage all help.
- Stop smoking. Both current and former smokers show higher odds of significant sleep apnoea on overnight testing. [6]
Give these a genuine go. If you are a light, occasional snorer, they may be all you need. But I will be honest about the limits: when the problem is the shape of your airway, lifestyle changes alone are usually not enough. That was true for me.
Get Tested Before You Treat
This is the step people most want to skip, and the one I insist on. If you are serious about how to stop snoring for good, you have to know what you are treating first. You cannot diagnose sleep apnoea from symptoms, questionnaires or an app. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Australasian Sleep Association are unambiguous: clinical tools and prediction algorithms should not be used to diagnose OSA without polysomnography or a home sleep apnoea test. [12]
Speak to your GP if any of this sounds like you: your partner has seen you stop breathing, gasp or choke; you wake unrefreshed no matter how long you sleep; you are sleepy during the day or have nodded off driving; you get morning headaches or a dry mouth; or you have blood pressure that will not come down. Your GP can arrange a sleep study or refer you to a sleep physician. If you already have a sleep study report, bring it to your first appointment with me, and we can skip straight to planning.
I work alongside sleep physicians and GPs rather than around them, and that is deliberate. Snoring frequently masks OSA, and getting that wrong has real consequences for the patient. [13]
How to Stop Snoring with a Mandibular Advancement Splint
For snoring and for mild to moderate sleep apnoea, the treatment I use is a custom-made oral appliance, or mandibular advancement splint (MAS). It is a slim, two-part device worn over your teeth at night that gently holds your lower jaw forward, keeping the airway open so the tissue stops vibrating.
The evidence is solid. In the AASM and AADSM clinical practice guidelines, oral appliances reduced snoring by nearly two nights per week and cut snoring events by 278 per hour. Across 34 randomised trials in 1,301 patients, they reduced the apnoea-hypopnoea index by an average of 13.6 events per hour. [13]
For a lot of people, this is where the choice between two treatments for how to stop snoring becomes real. They always ask how it compares to CPAP, so here is the honest answer. CPAP is more efficacious. Head-to-head trials consistently show it reduces apnoeas further in sleep studies. But greater on-paper efficacy does not automatically translate to better outcomes in real life, because a machine you do not wear does nothing. Oral appliances tend to achieve higher nightly use, and that adherence advantage can offset the efficacy gap, resulting in comparable overall effectiveness. [14]
Why the Cheap Online Version Will Disappoint You
Boil-and-bite mouthguards are tempting. They are also, in my experience and in the research, a false economy. In a randomised trial comparing custom to ready-made devices, the custom appliance achieved a complete treatment response in 64% of participants versus 24% for the ready-made device, with treatment failure in 4% versus 36%, and patients used the custom device more nights per week and for more hours per night. [15] The AASM guideline puts it plainly: use a custom, titratable appliance over a non-custom device. [13]
The reason is retention. A bulky device that does not fit properly falls out, hurts, and ends up in the bedside drawer.
What I Tell Patients About Side Effects
No treatment is free of trade-offs, and you should hear this before you commit. Early on, most people notice sore teeth or jaw muscles, gum tenderness, either extra saliva and drooling or a dry mouth, and a slightly odd bite for the first while in the morning. These are usually mild and settle. [13] Over years of use, there can be genuine changes to your bite, with small reductions in overjet and overbite documented. [13]
This is precisely why a splint is a dental treatment, not a product. I check your teeth, gums, and jaw joints before we start, and I monitor them at every review.
What Happens When You Come and See Us
Your first visit is a proper conversation. We review your sleep history, your health, and your sleep study results, if you have them. I examine your teeth, gums, jaw joints, and airway to confirm that a mandibular advancement splint is appropriate for you, because sometimes it is not, and I will tell you so. If it is suitable, we take precise records of your teeth and your appliance is made for you alone. At the fitting, I show you how to use and care for it, and then we gradually adjust the position over follow-up visits until your snoring is controlled and the splint feels like part of your routine.
We are based at 1299 Nepean Hwy, Mt Eliza, and we see patients from across the Mornington Peninsula, Bayside, Western Port and Frankston, including Mornington, Mount Martha, Rosebud and Seaford. What I think we do differently: care is led by a dentist with a Fellowship in Dental Sleep Medicine from the Australasian Sleep Association and years of experience; appliances are custom-made and adjusted over time rather than handed over and forgotten; we coordinate with your GP and sleep physician, and follow-up is close to home instead of a drive across Melbourne.
Where to Start Tonight
Skip the nightcap, sleep on your side, and clear your nose. If the noise continues, or if anything in the warning signs section rings true, get a sleep study organised through your GP rather than guessing. Snoring is common, but common is not the same as harmless, and it is not something you simply have to put up with.
I went through this myself, and I know how much difference a good night’s sleep makes. If you and your partner have had enough of broken nights, the most reliable answer to how to stop snoring is a proper diagnosis followed by a treatment built around you, and that is what we are here to do.
This article is general information only and is not a substitute for individual medical or dental advice. If you are concerned about your sleep or breathing, please speak with your GP. Individual results vary, and a thorough assessment is recommended before beginning any treatment.
References
[1] Saha S, et al. A subject-specific acoustic model of the upper airway for snoring sounds generation. Scientific Reports. 2016;6:25730. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep25730
[2] Carneiro-Barrera A, et al. Effect of an interdisciplinary weight loss and lifestyle intervention on obstructive sleep apnea severity: the INTERAPNEA randomized clinical trial. JAMA Network Open. 2022;5(4):e228212. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2791455
[3] Kolla BP, et al. The impact of alcohol on breathing parameters during sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews. 2018;42:59-67. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8520474/
[4] Ravesloot MJL, et al. Efficacy of the new generation of devices for positional therapy for patients with positional obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2017;13(6):813-824. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5443742/
[5] Värendh M, et al. Nasal symptoms increase the risk of snoring and snoring increases the risk of nasal symptoms: a longitudinal population study. Sleep and Breathing. 2021;25(4):1851-1857. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11325-020-02287-8
[6] Krüger M, et al. Breathing bad: increased risk for obstructive sleep apnea in current and former smokers. Scientific Reports. 2026;16:13382. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-48908-2
[7] Cunningham J, et al. The prevalence and comorbidities of obstructive sleep apnea in middle-aged men and women: the Busselton Healthy Ageing Study. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2021;17(10):2029-2039. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8494083/
[8] Yeghiazarians Y, et al. Obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021;144(3):e56-e67. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000988
[9] Lechat B, et al. Regular snoring is associated with uncontrolled hypertension. npj Digital Medicine. 2024;7:38. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-024-01026-7
[10] Aronsohn RS, et al. Impact of untreated obstructive sleep apnea on glucose control in type 2 diabetes. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2010;181(5):507-513. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2830401/
[11] Luzzi V, et al. Correlations of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and daytime sleepiness with the risk of car accidents in adult working population: a systematic review and meta-analysis with a gender-based approach. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2022;11(14):3971. https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0383/11/14/3971
[12] Kapur VK, et al. Clinical practice guideline for diagnostic testing for adult obstructive sleep apnea: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2017;13(3):479-504. https://aasm.org/resources/clinicalguidelines/diagnostic-testing-osa.pdf
[13] Ramar K, et al. Clinical practice guideline for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and snoring with oral appliance therapy: an update for 2015. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2015;11(7):773-827. https://aasm.org/resources/clinicalguidelines/oral_appliance-osa.pdf
[14] Sutherland K, et al. Oral appliance treatment for obstructive sleep apnea: an update. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2014;10(2):215-227. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3899326/
[15] Johal A, et al. Ready-made versus custom-made mandibular repositioning devices in sleep apnea: a randomized clinical trial. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2017;13(2):175-182. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5263072/