stop chewing the inside of my mouth

It’s worse than ever. Afternoons, never mornings. Imperfections, as someone here has rightly called them, that are there all of a sudden. Still haven’t got around yoga, and lately considered hypnosis, too – next yoga session at the gym is Monday night and I should go. About hypnosis, I’m really, really not the type for that… but desperate. I begin to think that I should wear this mouth guard at ALL times – but that doesn’t guarantee that I won’t start again a few months from now. So, what triggers this? Is it “only” nervosity, or something else?

I was onto something… my therapist recommended yoga, too. When I asked what to about my tick, she said that I should learn to relax my facial muscles. It’s true that my jaw feels tense most of the time. Yoga apparently helps to learn to systematically tense and then relax different muscles in the body (or face), and prevents one from involuntarily doing that. I know next to nothing about yoga, but I texted my friend and she’ll be happy to take me to her classes.

I can’t stop. I wear the mouth guard, for instance when I’m in the library – and feel relieved, but also afraid of running into somebody who wants to talk. Thank goodness it’s a library. But there’s the office, and the bus home, and each and every moment of forgetfulness. And one minute after taking it out, I’m at it again. It’s probably among the top five things I’m preoccupied with, 24/7. Maybe I should join my friend for those yoga classes. I really don’t know.

If anything it’s gotten worse, and I’m frightened about losing my dental brace/night guard again or of being somewhere without gum. Whether I’m at the movies, reading the newspaper or using the computer, I continue to chew. I saw Milk last night and dove for my handbag and the brace in the middle of the film when I noticed that I was biting my cheek again. (I hope nobody noticed, since this dental brace is as sexy as an eighty-year-old’s false teeth). And of course there’s always reason to chew, since the skin doesn’t get a chance to heal.

I browsed through other people’s entries and found one person who tried a funny way of modifying her behavior… she apparently pretended to be both a dog (chewing something bad) and the dog’s owner (training the dog). ;-) But how exactly does that work? I have a hard time being self-aware when reading, for instance.

So, still no other plans ideas about what to do about this, only the plan to wear this dental brace as often as possible.

Happy to have my dental brace back (I lost the old one). Those last three weeks without a brace were bad. The dentist still doesn’t fully understand that I don’t wear it at night at all, but in the daytime; but he did say: “See, you can talk normally when wearing it”. Yeah, right. So, 2009, been doing this for like ten years, have developed terrible lines, and now I’ve become dependent on dental brace too… great! ;-) And were there always so many people, 304, with this goal? There has to be some way of helping us, other than the “calm down, stop worrying” approach – nice enough, but how?

My last hope (well, besides therapy and a major life change), the dental brace, is only a few feet away from me in the next room, but I forget to use it – and all of a sudden I discover that I’m chewing away. It’s terrible.

I don’t think chewing gum, which I’ve tried, really does the trick, because it keeps my mouth and tongue in motion – I don’t think that’s good. Therefore I’ve decided to wear the plastic nightguard thing (or whatever this dental care device is called in English) during the day. I will try this for a month… It’s possible to talk almost normally, so it’s fine… as long as phone conversations or speeches aren’t required. ;-)

I’ve deposited boxes with chewing gum in the kitchen (where I read the newspaper, so exciting, need to chew, aargh!) and on my desk at home as well as in the office. Whenever I catch myself biting my cheeks, I’ll grab some gum. Or, to be honest, a candy bar/walnut/raisin/chocolate bar… – I’ve turned into a squirrel… but I think that’s better than chewing!

Alas, I’ve not been able to REALLY quit. And my weird wrinkles won’t miraculously disappear, which is a real drag.. But I’m not so ashamed anymore of seeing my dentist.. yes, there might be hope yet.

I can’t even remember a time after “starting” puberty when I didn’t engage in biting my nails, biting my knuckles (uuugh) or in recent years chewing the inside of my mouth. It has come to the point where there are lines (or wrinkles) above my upper lip that a person of my age wouldn’t usually have, and they make me incredible self-conscious. And my front teeth have also suffered. Repulsive, yes.

This behavior might stop eventually when my life changes and I don’t feel all this anxiety anymore, but until then, there’s got to be a way to stop. My dentist (who thinks that I grind my teeth at night) gave me some form of brace, but I don’t think I can wear it in the daytime. Unless I never speak!

For now I’m trying gum. If anyone knows of anything one can wear, like another kind of brace that allowes intelligible speech, do let me know!