I had been doing some reading online and ran across a post from a gal who was talking about her boyfriend and his snoring issue. The post focused on how he’d had his tonsils and adenoids removed, apparently due to numerous bacterial infections, but how it didn’t make any difference with his snoring. It reminded me that I had failed to mention in my contributing factors posting that I also had my tonsils removed as a child.
Ironically having them removed hasn’t seemed to help prevent any of my snoring as I aged. Wikipedia reports that extra tissue around the soft palette often contributes to snoring and is sometimes removed in surgical procedures to help eliminate the snoring.
Here’s a picture of some of these parts in the back of the throat. I can’t imagine how the uvula would actually make any difference with snoring just because it appears to hang there and not really touch anything.
All these parts, the uvula, tonsils and adenoids (which are not typically visible) can restrict airflow and potentially contribute to snoring.
I have to wonder if maybe my adenoids play any role in my snoring or not… for now the mouthpiece is working great though, so I won’t dwell on it too long!