Anxiety, Stress, and Lip/Cheek Biting

I am 51 years old and can remember biting my lips (the insides only) and cheeks when I was 19. It seems like the older I get the worse the habit becomes. I know that stress is most likely a contributor but only to a certain extent. It's a habit - plain and simple and I don't know how to quit! My trigger is when I'm awake!!! The only time I'm not biting is when I'm asleep but even then I wouldn't doubt I do it in my sleep. I have bad wrinkles around my mouth like a smoker and my face is always "moving"!!! It's a vicious cycle. My teeth blame it on my tongue and my tongue blames my teeth so no one is happy. I keep thinking about getting a clear small mouth guard that I can use to keep my teeth from being able to grab skin. Maybe using something like that will force me into losing the desire. I am glad to see that I'm not alone in this habit. I certainly don't talk about it to the general public. I'm sure they see it happening and wonder what the heck I'm doing that for!!! Good luck to everyone in finding their own cure!

i dont know what to say i do the same thing!! i feel like a crazy person too. its pretty funny actually! i even went to the dentist so they could look at it to make sure i wasnt causeing horribe damage!! all he said was take up another habbit and quit chewing on your mouth. i cant stop though! ive also started making my husband call me out on it! its not working though!! i just want it to stop and go the hell awway

Vangie, what you're doing is a nervous tic. It's actually anxiety related and it's known as a compulsion. Do you think that you can talk a therapist about it? I think that would be your best strategy. What do you think?

after seeing all these posts i know its anxiety. i was seeing a theraist in arkansas but i just moved again and its taking forever to find one. im trying really hard with all the other probs i have. but like i said everytime ive called they are either booked for a whole month of they have to reveiw my case to see if im worth seeing. im waiting right now to hear from some i called friday and they said they would look it over adn give me a call back. well it two here now and nothing!!! getting irrttated.the only thing is getting on here and just reading stuff and posting stuff. whats funny is it started out by me biting my lips then moved to the cheeks now im doing both again....sucks i know i look like a effin tard doing this and i cant stop.unless i take a xani adn im trying to stay away from them. havent had one in like 5 days now. dont want to get adicted to something else since im just now coming off an addiction. well this cheek biting c**p is addiction too. sometimes i can go all day not doing it then as soon as i say wow ive been doing good...i START lol.just wish a stupid therapist wouls see me already i have c**p i need to get off my chest and talk to someone but.....they suck

Yes I do this too. Actually it's gotten very bad, so I practically can't eat anything now because of the pain. Well what do you want to do huh?? There is a proven method though - and listen close. You just have to find some other compulsion to shift the energy over to. When you are enough addicted to the new OCD you won't have do to the biting, and hopefully the new thing will be some physically unthreatening behavior. I heard this just about now and I'm thinking about what new compulsiveness I should choose... I've had some sort of compulsion all my life - actually the first I got when I was three yrs, now I'm 18. That anxiety talk is such c**p I can't believe it; some people are more compulsive than others, I mean it's impossible that I have been walking around with anxiety since I was three years old.

Yes I do this too. Actually it's gotten very bad, so I practically can't eat anything now because of the pain. Well what do you want to do huh?? There is a proven method though - and listen close. You just have to find some other compulsion to shift the energy over to. When you are enough addicted to the new OCD you won't have do to the biting, and hopefully the new thing will be some physically unthreatening behavior. I heard this just about now and I'm thinking about what new compulsiveness I should choose... I've had some sort of compulsion all my life - actually the first I got when I was three yrs, now I'm 18. That anxiety talk is such c**p I can't believe it; some people are more compulsive than others, I mean it's impossible that I have been walking around with anxiety since I was three years old.s

Wow, I always thought I was the only one who bit their cheek. I've done it for as long as I can remember along with tongue chewing. I do the same thing with the tongue and looking for rough spots. I've never really considered myself an anxious person, yet I bite my cheek, chew my tongue, bite my nails, and occasionally eat paper. I've been able to kick the two latter habits although I'm not sure how to beat the former two. I tend to do them together. If I'm not doing one I do the other so I can't do one more to stop the other habit. I've tried chewing gum but I don't like it because it makes me hungry and makes my tongue feel weird.

I have bit my cheek for 10-15 years, even when they are bleeding. Like many of the posts before, I believe it is stress-related. I am looking into alternative therapies such as hypnosis to try and stop. The literature seems split as to whether cheek biting does/does not lead to oral cancer.

I recently realized that my biting happens when I'm stressed and have found that keeping gum handy helps during the day and wearing a small retainer (you can also use a sport mouth guard) at night to stop grinding and biting. Unfortunately, I usually don't realize when I'm doing it but keeping gum handy helps to prevent it and popping some in as soon as I realize I am doing it helps too.

I have been biting my cheeks and lips for as long as i can remember...im doing it right now! when i was younger i experimented with drugs. It seemed when i used any sort of speed, like cocaine, crystal meth or adderall i would bite constantly to the point where it would hurt and my lips would turn white on the inside. I still bite all the time and my party days have been over for quite some time. How do i stop? why do my lips turn white on the inside. Is there anything i can take to help me... i.e with stress or something? This is a bad habit and is embarrassing, i like to smile but feel self conscience about the condition of my mouth. People say "Stop" but i cannot even when i think about it.. i find myself biting while im telling my self to stop! Somebody help me!

I have been biting my cheeks and lips for as long as i can remember...im doing it right now! when i was younger i experimented with drugs. It seemed when i used any sort of speed, like cocaine, crystal meth or adderall i would bite constantly to the point where it would hurt and my lips would turn white on the inside. I still bite all the time and my party days have been over for quite some time. How do i stop? why do my lips turn white on the inside. Is there anything i can take to help me... i.e with stress or something? This is a bad habit and is embarrassing, i like to smile but feel self conscience about the condition of my mouth. People say "Stop" but i cannot even when i think about it.. i find myself biting while im telling my self to stop! Somebody help me!

i also have this problem. i hate it, it really gets to me. i just want to quit, i have done a few times for a while but not longer than a month or so max. it's an addiction; stress related what ever. i've tried chewing gum, partner and family telling me off. telling myself how bad it is for you, trying to scare myself with 'it will cause cancer, wrinkles, bad oral hygiene. remains very difficult. i'm going to keep trying these and also look at self cognitive behavioral therapy (you can get books, online). good luck to you all, WE CAN STOP IT!!! be strong!!!!

I can't believe the things I am reading. I had to double check to see if I had written it myself a while back. I have been biting my cheek since I was five. I do everything you all have said, smoothing, trying to make is have no tears, I have tried to stop, gone to therapy, chewed gum, nothing seems to help. It is like a cycle, you bite, hope it heals, and then it gets soft and you start all over again. I am 46 and am scared to death I will get cancer. I already know the inside of my mouth has changed. There are parts that don't seem capable of healing, like the skin is mooshy permanently, and I can tell my cheek is thinner there, and I have deeper lines in my face because of it. My uncle is 67 and is dying, he got cancer in his mouth inside his cheek. He told me he too bites his cheek, and believes that is why he has the cancer. I just cam back from the hospital, he has only days to live, and seeing him you would think I can stop, but i bit my cheek tonight more than ever. I use my hands to manipulate my mouth so that I can reach far back places. I almost go into a trance when I do it, and it makes me feel depressed when I have don't my whole mouth really bad, I don't leave the house. It is a obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), just like banging your head on a wall. I would do anything to stop, if anyone knows a way, please tell me, tell us!

A REMEDY FOR CHEEK BITING.

Hello: I have been biting my cheek for years. Sometimes it is so painful I can't eat, and I have had biopsies performed to check for cancer (OK so far). I bite along one side, along my molars. Of course, I have no idea why I do it, but I have been unable to stop.

I figured that if I can somehow disrupt the habit, I would be OK, at least for a while. This is exactly what happened, and here is what I did:

I got a piece of thin latex rubber, about 1" by 1 1/"2 or so. I place it against the inside of my cheek, where I bite, and surface tension holds it in place pretty well. Obviously, with this in place I don't bite my cheek. I wear it for a day or two, and after wearing it I find I won't bite my cheek for several weeks or more. It has been a lifesaver for me, perhaps literally.

The rubber I use is cut from a latex band that is used by physical therapists; use the flat band, not the tube. One brand is Thera-band. I use rubber that is about .010" thick, and this seems perfect. The color signifies the thickness; you want thin rubber so it almost blends into the surface of the cheek, but it must have some body to it so you can handle it. If you use Thera- Band you would probably try the yellow rubber. Cut a rectangle with rounded corners, or any other shape that works.

I find I can talk and do most anything with the rubber in place, although eating is not easy. No one knows it is there. I have only used it in the back of my mouth along my cheek, so I do not know how it would work in other parts of the mouth.

THIS IS A CHOKING HAZARD, SO DO NOT SLEEP WITH IT IN PLACE AND DO NOT USE ON CHILDREN. This idea should only be used when all else has failed. I am not a doctor or anything, so you must be careful and do this at your own risk.

hi. i am astonished at how similar your story is to mine. for years I have gone to the doctor, the dentist, a hypnotist and tried self calming techniques. I have suffered from the extreme urge to bite, tear chunks out of, and pick at, the inside of my lips. I love it. I enjoy tediously finding a juicy piece of lip and then exploding in pain with a rush while I bite them and pick, and chew. I take huge chunks out. My lips get swollen on the outside and people probably think I have botox. I look at times as if I have a puffy lip from biting. The sores I get afterward are unimaginable. They are so bad I can't eat or talk or function properly yet I keep doing it. I have been doing it since I was 4 or 5. It is self mutilation. I also love grinding my teeth and poking my gums with sharp objects. It is so painful but it is a rush and it vibrates my whole body to feel the sensation from mutilating my mouth and gums. Unfortunately I cannot stop. I may try hypnosis again.
The other day I was telling my mom how out of control it feels, because right now I have really done a number on my mouth. both sides of my side molars and cheeks are bitten, my top center bottom and side of my lips are full of sores, and I cannot talk well. Anyway, my mom saw this and told me something new to try:

My mom taught me, that when you become overwhelmed with the URGE to bite, you take your hands, make a karate chop sign and knock them together saying "i will not bite i will not bite i will not bite''. knock them one on top of the other, karate chop motion, saying it over and over, "i will not bite". then you move on to your temples, , tap them methodically and say, i will not bite i will not bite i will not bite, (Tap tap tap tap tap) over and over, then move on to above your lip, and tap there saying it over again 5 times, i will not bite i will not bite. then tap the spot inbetween your eyes, then move on to your side, and tap your side and say it, and then move on to each one of your fingers. once you have tapped the side of your index finger, middle finger, ring finger and pinkie, you can stop. and rate YOUR URGE. TO BITE. is it bad? is it better? do you still feel out of control and want to tear into your own flesh? if so, breathe deep and do the mantra one more time.

The point of the tapping is said to help stimulate shakra areas of the body. our temples, sides, the insides of our fingers, above our lips, between our eyes. thus it is supposed to calm and supress your urge to bite. my mom's idea has worked once, so far. when my mom walked me through it. it failed once and i bit my lip without even considering doing it. and then another time i thought about it once but then rejected doing it and elected to overbrush and floss my gums and poke at them to clean them with small scissors until they bled badly. it felt good and it hurt a lot. good luck with this problem. i suspect it is a mix of anxiety and OCD.