Anxiety, Stress, and Lip/Cheek Biting

It's crazy I know your feeling. I've been trying to find a relief, and It feels must worse with the muscle aches in my jaw already from hypermobility.

I googled it as well as i've been doing it a lot during this huge essay I have to write! I hate it as i bleed a bit and I feel like I look like an id**t just gnawing on my face from the inside. For everyone else here i'd have to agree, it seems my only solution would be to stop when you notice it. It's tough, but the comparison to quitting smoking is frighteningly real i'd assume. Realistically, there's no other way (watch the film Thumbsucker!!!!). Sometimes I chew gum, or try to eat something bite sized (grapes usually), which is a distraction for a while - but no major breakthroughs. To everyone i'd say just focus on stopping when you notice you're doing it, then continue what you're doing focusing on the feeling of not biting. Seems to work for me (today anyway).

I have had this problem since childhood (I am now in my 50's). This morning my cheeks were so bad I had flesh hanging from them. I then tried a a 50-50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. i used it as a mouthwash 4 or 5 times over the course of the day. Now, about 12 hours later, my mouth is now smooth again. It worked almost miraculously for me to heal the damage.. Try it. Peroxide costs $1 per bottle. You have nothing to loose.

i bite my inner skin of my mouth everyday..well..its same wid me..i hav heard dt it may cause cancer in d long run if u continue to du dis ..is it true? can ne1 help me out..

i bite my inner skin of my mouth everyday..well..its same wid me..i hav heard dt it may cause cancer in d long run if u continue to du dis ..is it true? can ne1 help me out..

So I finally got a mouth guard from the dentist because my cheek chewing has gotten so bad.  I have lines over my lip from twisting so I can get to the backs of my cheeks, headaches and my canine teeth are worn down straight across. 

the bad(ish) news is that with the mouth guard in I've now started messing with that with my tongue and have a sore tongue haha and clench when it's in.

the GOOD news is, it does help train you not to chew the cheeks when it's not in.  also it is AMAZING how fast your cheeks and lips heal once we leave them alone for 2 minutes!!!!!!  I'm hoping that once there are no sores to chew it won't be "fun" anymore, ya know?  I'm aiming for a nice smooth inner mouth that won't tempt my tongue and teeth! 

This is totally anxiety related for me.  I suffered BIG time from panic and anxiety and got it under control fearwise but guess what???  maybe not completely under control because once I started feeling better and more confident in my life the chewing surfaced. 

Good luck and please let me know if you find a great way to STOP CHEWING!!!!!! :D  Also, I got my anxiety and panic under control using Panic Away, sounds cheesey but it saved my butt. 

How much did the mouth guard run you? I have Safeguard Dental/Met Life and they are like 160.00 with lab fees.

I's strange seeing people that do it too! I always bite my bottom right lip to feel the pain. It's not a bad pain though as I'm a total wimp but  I think it may have got less painful over the years. I have a boyfriends so I didn't do it often but now that he's away at uni, I'm starting to do it all of the time when I am around exam period, obviously stress related. I don't really want to stop I was merely curious as to if it was weird or not.

I mainly do it when I'm bored, for example sitting in class or something.

Thanks for the tapping idea-- I tried it a few times and it's been pretty helpful so far. It's nice to hear from someone with similar struggles (though my habit is not as severe as yours). I just thought I'd add my own tip that had helped me somewhat. I keep my iPhone stopwatch running all the time that I am free of chewing and biting. I make a game of it with myself to see how long I can go between biting sessions. For those who bite constantly, maybe it's only a few minutes at first, but it's really satisfying to watch the minutes rack up. you can also leave the timer running in the background and always reset it when you relapse. You'll get so sick of having to restart the timer, it's added incentive not to bite. It's been really encouraging to me to see how I've extended the time between relapses. Good luck!

dude this is the habit of anxiety Dr. Connelly also explains that while he has heard of mouth lesions sometimes being a cause of oral cancer, he doesn’t believe that any studies have proven that cheek biters may be more susceptible to cancer. “Any chronic mouth lesion could develop cancer over the long term, but the research and final word are spotty.”

I'm a senior in college, and although I've had this habit on and off for the past few years.. the recent added stress of upcoming finals and job hunting have made this habit a constant behavior that lasts all day.

 

But a couple of times I have been able to stop, and keep myself from starting up again for a while. (my record is probably a month or longer) This summer I made it my daily goal to see how long I could go each day without biting the inside of my lips. When I woke up and brushed my teeth, I would use the toothbrush to go over the damaged skin on my inner lip. This brushed away the dead skin, but I did it gently enough that it wouldn't tear the repairable skin. I was very conscious all day about keeping myself from biting, but the first day I think I was at it again by 1pm. When I got home from work I brushed again, but this time I soaked the toothbrush in mouth wash before brushing my inner lips. It stung, but I think it worked to clean out the new wounds. I did this again before bed, and again the next morning. I was able to make it to 3pm the 2nd day, after work the 3rd day, and after about 4 days I made it the whole day without chewing my lips and I was finally able to gently remove the rest of the dead skin with the toothbrush.

 

It was more of a mental challenge than a physical one, but that one month of smooth, bite-free inner lips was glorious. It's amazing how much easier it is to not start the habit again after the rough, dead skin is completely gone and you're not tempted to just get that ONE spot... and oops... you're at it again.

Eventually I did start again, right when school started (coincidence? I think not..) but if you can remember that it only takes a few days of extra careful attention to the habit to make it stop, you might have an easier time with it.

I havnt found any research on whether or not it's a good idea to use the mouthwash on the problem area... but it worked for me!

 

My aunt (my mom's sister) does it, I do it, and my niece (sister's daughter) does it, too. Funny how it seems to run in the family. I wish I could stop. Sometimes I do it so much my cheeks are sore but I can't stop and keep doing it. :(

Glad to see I'm not the only one. Ive been doing this for 10+ years now. I've tried to stop before and have been really close to completely quiting. Every time I lose concentration on whatever I'm doing I start to bite my cheeks and upper lip. I'm almost completely out of this habit. For me it's all in my head. All I have to do is be constantly aware of what I'm doing and stop the urge before it starts.

I do this too, but to an extreme, sometimes as much as four hours per day. I am 56 years old, and started around six years of age. Bite both the lips, upper and lower, and inside cheeks until they bleed. I am ashamed to admit that I actually put my fingers in my mouth and rip off long pieces of my inner cheek. I feel that this disgusting habit has kept me from a normal life. It is definitely psychological and stress induced. I think fatigue contributes somewhat also. Interesting that a shrink told me it was a LEARNED behavior, that someone TAUGHT me to do this.   I objected until I remembered that a favorite aunt chewed her cheek. This aunt's doctor told her to take iron pills to stop it.  Not sure if it helped her. I might try that again. I think brushing teeth frequently helps somewhat, because for me a bad taste in mouth after eating can trigger it. Anyway, I think going to a therapist you can trust is probably the only thing to do.