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Habit of biting the insides of my cheeks

《Plasticity》

《Plasticity》

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Joined
Sep 21, 2013
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Okay so I have no idea where to post this but SO seems to be the right place, if not feel free to move this. So by nature I'm an anxious person, anxiety runs in my family(as does alot of scary shit unfortunately) and I have been diagnosed with both GAD and SAD, I just feel this is worth mentioning. Anyways, for years I have had this habit of chewing into the sides of my mouth, not deep but enough to leave little "cuts". I have constantly tried to stop this habit but I can't, most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it until I've already been doing so for a while.

I feel this is akin to having a nail biting habit except I don't know if what I'm doing is actually dangerous, I mean I'll chew into my cheeks until my whole mouth is full of little "cuts" and as they're healing up I'll continue doing it. Since the mouth is full of bacteria I feel like I might get some sort of infection or even some form of mouth cancer (cancer runs in my family as well) from my mouth constantly being "under repair". Does anyone else have this habit? I'm sure I'm not alone, anybody have any advice to stop? Don't tell me to just stop doing it as it's not that simple. I'm assuming I need to dig into the reasons for my anxiety but I find that anxiety just isn't that simple, sometimes my anxiety has no just cause, I'm just an anxious person in general, by genetics I guess. Any advice is welcome :)

Edit: This may be better suited for "Healthy Living", again, feel free to move this if need be.
 
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Write a note "stop chewing your cheeks" and put it somewhere in your house.
Write that on your phone.
You can write it on your hand too.
Hopefully this will remind you to stop doing it. It will take a while though, but you'll eventually stop doing it. I used this "technique" to correct the way I swallow. I usually press on my teeth with my tongue while swallowing and that made my teeth move. But now I'm doing better
 
I bite the insides of my cheeks as well. I thought I was the only one til my middle school English teacher looked surprised seeing me doing it and told me she did it as well. I think she thought she was the only one too

I doubt there's any real health risk involved, if Its not painful then I wouldn't really worry about it
 
flyhighk said:
Write a note "stop chewing your cheeks" and put it somewhere in your house.
Write that on your phone.
You can write it on your hand too.
Hopefully this will remind you to stop doing it. It will take a while though, but you'll eventually stop doing it. I used this "technique" to correct the way I swallow. I usually press on my teeth with my tongue while swallowing and that made my teeth move. But now I'm doing better
Click to expand...
Haha this seems a bit extreme but it might work I guess, the problem is I don't even know when I'm doing it. I can definately give this a go around the house, my GF may think I'm fucking crazy but IDGAF, she knows about my problem and points out when I'm doing it around her. As for writing it on myself or on a note in plain view I don't think I can do that, I work in the oil field and these people I work with WILL give me shit lol, not to mention I would look a bit crazy walkin around with a post-it note on my shirt that reads "stop biting your cheeks!".

Wolfmans_BrothEr said:
I bite the insides of my cheeks as well. I thought I was the only one til my middle school English teacher looked surprised seeing me doing it and told me she did it as well. I think she thought she was the only one too

I doubt there's any real health risk involved, if Its not painful then I wouldn't really worry about it
Click to expand...
Your not alone, I have a friend I went to highschool with the same habit as well but he only did it in high stress situations like before a test or when he knew shit was about to go down. I honestly DO believe that infection is a real possibility, not to mention this habit is annoying and I really wanna let go of it. The human mouth is absolutely filthy, even with regular brushing so when you leave these cuts your giving millions of bacteria free access to your body.

Captain.Heroin said:
This is a tic that you're performing subconsciously as a means to alleviate anxiety.

Address this in therapy if you can, and it should subside.

And yes you can end up with infections doing this.
Click to expand...

This is the reply I was expecting, the problem is I think I moved past the point where this is just a nervous tick tied to my anxiety. I occasionally take benzos and other GABA-ergics and when under the influemce of these anxiety is completely dissapated yet I still catch myself doing this. There's no doubt this is/was tied to anxiety but now I do it whether I'm anxious or not, it's really annoying. Also, I have indeed been considering therapy for my anxiety and I do believe I have some underlying issues that not even I am aware of due to constant drug use numbing access to my inner-self but I STRONGLY believe that not all anxiety has a root cause and some of it is just genetic pre-disposition. I have always been a rather tense person, even as a child when there would be no logical reason for a child to be anxious. I've always been an introvert and I believe alot of my anxiety is due to an inability to shut off my thoughts, this is especially difficult at night when attempting to sleep. I constantly finding myself wondering about what I'm gonna do the next day or replaying "events" that have long passed. Anyways, therapy is something I will be pursuing in the future but as of now if at all possible I would like to give up this habit on my own, obviously there's no simple answer though.
 
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I swish hot sauce around in my mouth first before I bite the inside of my checks, yea know extra flavor.
 
I tend to do this when I'm under a lot of stress. I find that chewing gum alleviates the compulsion to bite the inside of my cheeks.
 
《Plasticity》;12168679 said:
Okay so I have no idea where to post this but SO seems to be the right place, if not feel free to move this. So by nature I'm an anxious person, anxiety runs in my family(as does alot of scary shit unfortunately) and I have been diagnosed with both GAD and SAD, I just feel this is worth mentioning. Anyways, for years I have had this habit of chewing into the sides of my mouth, not deep but enough to leave little "cuts". I have constantly tried to stop this habit but I can't, most of the time I don't even realize I'm doing it until I've already been doing so for a while.

I feel this is akin to having a nail biting habit except I don't know if what I'm doing is actually dangerous, I mean I'll chew into my cheeks until my whole mouth is full of little "cuts" and as they're healing up I'll continue doing it. Since the mouth is full of bacteria I feel like I might get some sort of infection or even some form of mouth cancer (cancer runs in my family as well) from my mouth constantly being "under repair". Does anyone else have this habit? I'm sure I'm not alone, anybody have any advice to stop? Don't tell me to just stop doing it as it's not that simple. I'm assuming I need to dig into the reasons for my anxiety but I find that anxiety just isn't that simple, sometimes my anxiety has no just cause, I'm just an anxious person in general, by genetics I guess. Any advice is welcome :)

Edit: This may be better suited for "Healthy Living", again, feel free to move this if need be.
Click to expand...


OMFG capn I do the same thing. Also bite my nails. I've noticed even if there all cut up and raw I'll keep doing it. I think it's a form of self cannibalizing, I also chew and eat the calluses on my hands. I don't think the chance of infection is that great as I've been doing it a couple years now. Its annoying as fuck though, waking up after a long night with the insides of my mouth raw as fuck.
 
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