There are several reasons someone might bite their tongue, including teeth misalignment and bruxism. However, some people may also adopt tongue biting as a habit to help manage stress and anxiety. Compulsive tongue biting can cause discomfort due to sores and ulcers on the tongue, making eating and speaking a challenge. This article looks deeper into some of the recommended habits one can adopt to help stop tongue-biting.
Identify your Triggers
Identifying what triggers you to bite your tongue can help you address the root cause of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. Identifying when and why you bite your tongue helps you understand your behavioral patterns, making it easier to avoid the thoughts and situations that result in tongue biting. The primary trigger for those suffering from tongue biting is usually stress and anxiety. Consequently, understanding such triggers helps you develop tailored and practical solutions.
Practice Mindfulness
Most cases of compulsive tongue biting occur subconsciously. As a result, practicing mindfulness makes you more aware of your actions. From yoga to meditation, several mindfulness practices can help you stay more attuned to your thoughts and emotions. You can incorporate some of these mindfulness activities into your daily routine. For example, you can enroll in yoga classes or practice breathing exercises whenever you feel nervous. Once you are aware of your triggers, you can easily adopt different responses, such as taking deep breaths or shifting your focus to other things instead of biting your tongue.
Stress management is a critical factor in managing tongue biting, and mindfulness can help you with that as well. Deep breathing and meditation can relieve emotional tension that might cause tongue biting. Through mindfulness, you can easily observe your emotions without reacting impulsively, preventing frustration during stressful situations. Most importantly, it helps promote self-compassion, which helps you manage the habit without judgment, thus encouraging more positivity when trying to overcome the habit.
Seek Professional Help
If the tongue biting becomes severe or persistent, it is best to seek professional help to develop a better management plan. Getting an accurate diagnosis helps you get the treatment you need. If your habit is classified under BFRBs, then seeking therapy will help you manage the condition better. Therapists often use behavioral therapies to help you identify your triggers and adopt healthier responses. Cognitive behavioral therapy will help you manage stress and anxiety better, as well as develop long-term behavioral change. Habit reversal training, on the other hand, is often applied to individuals struggling with chronic tongue biting. One is coached to adopt alternative behaviors to replace their harmful habits. Seeking professional help also guarantees you better psychological support, which is essential in the management of triggers such as stress and anxiety.
Therapists often provide emotional support and better coping mechanisms to deal with stress. In severe cases, you might get medication for your anxiety, which directly helps reduce the frequency of tongue biting. Seeking professional help also means that you will have your condition tracked frequently, allowing you to monitor your progress. Therapists can adjust management plans accordingly and provide guidance when needed. They can also help you adopt healthier habits that prevent the recurrence of the old habits, which guarantees long-term relief.
Wear a Dental Guard
Wearing a dental guard, especially when sleeping, can help prevent accidental bites and help manage the habit in the long run, seeing as it reduces the contact between your teeth and tongue. Wearing a dental guard minimizes injuries to your tongue, which can add more to your stress and escalate the habit. Thus, it becomes easier to break the cycle. If you already have injuries on your tongue, it helps fasten the healing process by protecting it from further damage.
Use Oral Substitutes
Oral substitutes provide a safe alternative to engage your teeth and mouth, which helps in reducing the urge to bite your tongue. You can use various oral substitutes to redirect your habitual behavior from your tongue, such as chewing sugar-free gum.
Without a doubt, keeping your mouth occupied with something to chew reduces habitual tongue biting, especially when handling activities that require high concentration or may be stressful. Further, oral substitutes also make you more aware of when you are engaging in tongue biting, which makes it easier to break the habit over time.
Set Realistic Goals
While you may want the habit to stop instantly, it’s good to acknowledge that recovery takes time. That is why you need to embrace the gradual healing process and be patient with your journey. You can set small goals like challenging yourself to stop biting your tongue for a week, and then you can grow from there. Having realistic goals will make the healing journey more bearable. Additionally, you must give yourself grace and understand that sometimes you might encounter setbacks. Further, rewarding yourself with every milestone you hit during your healing process is best. Putting pressure on yourself makes the process even more complex and can increase stress.
Signing Off
Tongue biting can be frustrating, mainly due to the injuries one incurs and the lack of control. Compulsive tongue biting is usually a symptom of an underlying medical or mental health condition, so it is best to address the root cause of the problem for better management. The sores in your tongue can make it hard to eat and even speak, triggering even more stress, thus making it a challenge to break the cycle.
Fortunately, several strategies exist to manage tongue biting and make the healing process more bearable. From using dental guards to identifying triggers, practicing mindfulness, and using oral substitutes, all these are proven to lower the impact of tongue biting and healthily manage the condition.
