Anxious Cheek Biting: Understanding Your Habits
There can be many different manifestations of anxiety that often range in severity, type, and frequency. Anxiety usually features common symptoms like mood changes, physical sensations, stomach problems, altered thoughts or cognition, and somatic symptoms that can be otherwise associated with medical illnesses. Something as innocuous as cheek biting could be a sign of an unaddressed anxiety disorder.
If you frequently bite the inside of your cheek when you feel nervous, it can be helpful to practice a healthy lifestyle by eating whole foods and exercising regularly to decrease anxiety. Journaling and meditation can also be beneficial. Working with a licensed therapist online or in person can provide you with personalized guidance and insight regarding anxiety and cheek biting.
Cheek biting, sometimes called cheek chewing, can occur for multiple reasons. An accidental cheek bite is not uncommon and sometimes occurs when people are chewing. However, regular accidental cheek biting can cause damage to the oral mucosa or mouth tissue in the inner cheek, potentially resulting in a canker sore. These painful sores can make it easy to accidentally bite the injured area again.
Although BFRB disorder may be similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), they are not the same. People with BFRB might pull their hair, pick their skin, or bite their cheek compulsively to relieve feelings of tension or discomfort. In contrast, those with OCD carry out their repetitive behaviors, like hand washing or checking things, because of unwanted thoughts that make them feel as though something bad will happen if they don't perform these actions.
Some of your habits may be the result of an undiagnosed or misunderstood anxiety disorder. Difficulty staying or falling asleep, nightmares, dizziness, headaches, light-headedness, shooting pain, numbness, and tingling can be a few physical symptoms that are sometimes overlooked or mischaracterized.
Fear of losing control, losing mental stability, and a sense of impending doom can be common in those with recurrent anxiety. Additionally, phobias, over-exaggerated fear, over-reactivity, repetitive thoughts, obsessions, and compulsions can be other symptoms often associated with anxiety disorders.
Biting the inside of your cheek can be quite common, and it doesn’t necessarily point to an anxiety disorder. However, when a chronic cheek biter engages in this type of body-focused repetitive behavior compulsively, there is likely a reason for it. People tend to have habits they fall into when they are feeling particularly anxious. As an example, you might see some people rapidly moving one of their legs up and down as a sign of nervous energy.
Anxiety-related cheek biting can be addressed through relaxation exercises, meditation, and other cognitive and behavioral therapies or self-help practices. However, appropriate medical attention with a conservative treatment approach may be required for symptoms like broken skin or severe bleeding inside the mouth to ensure all wounds are completely healed.
Anxiety symptoms may manifest emotionally or physically. They can include the following:
- Feeling of being under pressure
- Emotionally overreacting or detaching
- Experiencing mood swings
- Emotional overload
- Memory impairment
- Unexplained anger
- Grouchiness
- Lack of patience
- Having a tendency to stress eat
- Feeling like you have a lump in your throat
- Difficulty swallowing
- Feeling like your mouth is burning
- Perceived urgency to urinate or vomit
- Sensitivity to light
- Dry, watery, or itchy eyes
- Spots in vision
- Altered depth perception
- Clenching of the jaw and grinding of the teeth, sometimes leading to TMJ pain or achy teeth or jaw
- Frequent belching
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Skin sensitivity
- Rashes
- Altered or major hearing loss
Anxiety's impact
Anxiety has the potential to impact many aspects of your life. If you live with anxiety and are not seeking some type of treatment, it may get worse over time. For some people, coping with anxiety symptoms can become so challenging that it later prevents them from living normal lives. In the worst cases, anxiety might cause problems with a career path and can even hurt your relationships with friends or family.
The anxiety that you may be feeling can be difficult to manage on your own. Simply seeking treatment and talking to someone about what is going on can make a huge difference in your life, mental health, and overall well-being.
Managing anxiety
If face-to-face therapy feels too intimidating or isn’t available to you, you might opt for online therapy instead. The ability to get the professional help you deserve from the comfort of your home can be empowering. Plus, online therapy is often more affordable than traditional in-office sessions.
Clinical studies have shown that online cognitive behavioral therapy can greatly reduce the symptoms of anxiety and other mental disorders, sometimes even better than in-person therapy. If you feel you’d benefit from working with a mental health professional, please don’t hesitate to reach out and get started.
Takeaway
Read more below for answers to questions commonly asked about biting the inside of one's mouth.
If you’re wondering “Why does cheek biting happen?” know that it can be a normal thing that most of us do at some point or another. Accidental biting your cheek happens sometimes when we’re chewing food, while habitual cheek biting may be indicative of anxiety or a compulsive behavior, or an orthodontic issue like tooth deflection.
If you want to break the habit of biting your cheek skin, one popular tip is to start chewing gum. Chewing sugar free gum is a good idea, since it should not negatively impact your oral health like sugary gum can. In addition to sugar free gum, you may wish to try a night guard if you tend to bite your cheeks at night; or, you can try therapy or anxiety medication if you feel that your cheek biting stems from anxiety.
Habitual cheek biting may be triggered by anxiety. People who engage in psychological related biting of the cheeks may be channeling their anxious thoughts in the form of a repetitive body focused behavior, similar to how some people bite their nails when they’re nervous.
If you’re wondering why you keep biting your cheek, there’s a chance you may be using cheek biting as a way to soothe anxiety, similar to when people bite their nails. Also called BFRB biting, or body focused repetitive behavior biting, biting your cheeks can give temporary relief to feelings of anxiety.
Regular cheek biting may be indicative of an orthodontic issue, but the occasional bite is nothing to worry about. If you automatically bite your cheeks in times of stress or anxiety, this may indicate a pattern of body focused repetitive behavior.
Can your mouth get infected from biting your cheek?
It is possible that regularly biting your cheek could lead to an infection. If you experience swelling or prolonged pain from your cheek biting, be sure to consult a medical doctor for an exam and treatment.
Cheek biting can be a sign of ADHD stemming, which involves repetitive body based habits like twirling the hair, tapping feet, scratching, picking skin, and more.
What is biting disorder?
Dermatophagia, also known as biting disorder, occurs when a person compulsively bites or chews their skin. It is commonly seen when people bite the skin around their fingernails, but the inner cheek can also be another example.
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