Cheek biting while gaming and suggestions on how to stop.

[Gxas]

So I've been an avid gamer all my life. I play very competitively sometimes, and I get very tensed up while playing a close match of any kind. With this, comes the cheek biting. It's not a painful thing at all - not at all like when you miss the food in your mouth and chomp down hard - but rather, just a constant sort of nibbling/sucking on the inside of my cheek. It's usually on the left-side of my mouth and, while I never get sores of any kind, the place I am nibbling tends to raw a little, and swell up, which only exacerbates the problem in the end.

I have always had a bit of an oral fixation. I stick my tongue out while writing and I constantly am chewing on gum or tic-tacs or toothpicks. But those things become a problem while playing (I've swallowed so much gum while gaming because I forget that I have it in my mouth)

Does anyone else have this problem or has anyone figured out a solution to this? I feel like it should be a fairly common thing.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Google shot this at me:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-p-connelly-dds/cheek-biting-_b_818047.html

Not really a problem for myself but... *shrug*

 

[DoPo]

Ah, I used to do that! Not just when gaming but just in general. I did manage to stop by applying a behavioural modification technique. Worked for me, it might do for you, and it's really simple:

1. Take a rubber band
2. wear it on your wrist
3. When you catch yourself chewing the inside of your mouth, then stop and snap the elastic band against your hand. Enough to feel pain.

Since I was chewing my cheek unconsciously, this helped me learn to recognise when it was happening and as such, to be able to avoid it. It took some time to transfer it to a conscious behaviour, but it worked - I think it was about a month in total or so. It started off slow, as I would only occasionally catch myself but as time went on, I'd catch myself doing it more and more, and as a result, I'd be snapping the band more and more. At some point, I started catching myself before I even bit into my cheek and I'd still snap the rubber band instead of biting into it. I did that until I was comfortable to leave the rubber band behind

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I actually had this problem myself too.

A mouth guard might be a good investment here, the sort of thing boxers and other professional athletes use.

Ah, I used to do that! Not just when gaming but just in general. I did manage to stop by applying a behavioural modification technique. Worked for me, it might do for you, and it's really simple:

1. Take a rubber band
2. wear it on your wrist
3. When you catch yourself chewing the inside of your mouth, then stop and snap the elastic band against your hand. Enough to feel pain.

This is a good suggestion too, it's a good way of chastising one's self for doing something unconsciously.

Though the way I addressed this sort of thing, along with my tendency to hyperventilate softly when really focused on a game was pretty simple. I got things like teething rings, other teething items that would be safe to chew on to help prevent me from chewing on the inside of my cheek. What helped with both the cheek chewing and soft mouth hyperventilation were pacifiers. That changed my habit to shutting my mouth tightly and sucking either on a pacifier or my tongue. Also, drinking a little when gaming has been something that has stopped most gaming fidgets for me. Not excessively, but a carrying a light buzz during gaming sessions helps a lot. Assuming you're old enough to do that I mean.

 

[Something Amyss]

Ah, I used to do that! Not just when gaming but just in general. I did manage to stop by applying a behavioural modification technique. Worked for me, it might do for you, and it's really simple:

1. Take a rubber band
2. wear it on your wrist
3. When you catch yourself chewing the inside of your mouth, then stop and snap the elastic band against your hand. Enough to feel pain.

Since I was chewing my cheek unconsciously, this helped me learn to recognise when it was happening and as such, to be able to avoid it. It took some time to transfer it to a conscious behaviour, but it worked - I think it was about a month in total or so. It started off slow, as I would only occasionally catch myself but as time went on, I'd catch myself doing it more and more, and as a result, I'd be snapping the band more and more. At some point, I started catching myself before I even bit into my cheek and I'd still snap the rubber band instead of biting into it. I did that until I was comfortable to leave the rubber band behind

I tried that once. Not so good for my carpal tunnel. >.>

In any event, any method used to make you cognisant of it is worth a try. For me, admitting there's a problem is usually enough to kick me into addressing it.

Of course, I chew my lower lip a lot, and feel no need to stop, so take that last bit of advice with it in mind.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Suck on a soother.

Edit: Oh wait, someone already made that suggestion and was serious about it?

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Suck on a soother.

Edit: Oh wait, someone already made that suggestion and was serious about it?

Yeah I made that suggestion, and was serious about it, so what of it?

 

[Drathnoxis]

Suck on a soother.

Edit: Oh wait, someone already made that suggestion and was serious about it?

Yeah I made that suggestion, and was serious about it, so what of it?

An adult sucking on a soother is going to be universally mocked by everybody that they know. This goes the same for bibs, diapers, baby food, etc. Babies are utterly incompetent and pathetic, so anything associated with babies is associated with the inability to care for one's self. For almost everybody, this is an embarrassing state to have been in and so every effort is made to disassociate from that state, even in childhood. An adult that is seen still relying on such items is going to have their mental capacity seriously questioned.

To cut things short, being caught using a pacifier is a good way to instantly lose a lot of respect from pretty much everybody around you.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Suck on a soother.

Edit: Oh wait, someone already made that suggestion and was serious about it?

Yeah I made that suggestion, and was serious about it, so what of it?

An adult sucking on a soother is going to be universally mocked by everybody that they know. This goes the same for bibs, diapers, baby food, etc. Babies are utterly incompetent and pathetic, so anything associated with babies is associated with the inability to care for one's self. For almost everybody, this is an embarrassing state to have been in and so every effort is made to disassociate from that state, even in childhood. An adult that is seen still relying on such items is going to have their mental capacity seriously questioned.

To cut things short, being caught using a pacifier is a good way to instantly lose a lot of respect from pretty much everybody around you.

Well I was being silly in calling you out, you brought up a serious point.

The people who do the mocking generally have something far more worthy of being ashamed of that they do. Honestly if you have a good excuse, like "it stops me from biting my cheek while gaming", then the person making the joke is also easy to peg for being a jerk too. That's especially true when you go after someone's coping mechanisms used to attempt to stop a bad habit.

 

[Gxas]

All of these suggestions seem like good things to try. It appears that the fact that I normally do not have water or any sort of drink nearby while I play might be a problem, since my mouth is hella dried out after a long session.

I may couple the rubber-band thing with just making sure I am drinking something constantly. Barring that helping, I'll definitely find something to chew on during sessions.

Thanks all, hope I can break this.

 

[VanQ]

I used to have a bad habit of biting my lips when I played too hard. Think hardcore progression raiding in WoW or playing Legendary in Halo. I stopped it by sucking on lollipops while gaming for a few months and it broke the hanit entirely.

 

[Antari]

Go to your local sports store and go to the hockey section. Look at mouth guards. If you do mean to quit they will help. And if you happen to take up a violent contact sport, one less item to pick up!

 

[Erttheking]

Pretty mundane advice compared to what you're getting, but I grind my teeth sometimes and I deal with it by chewing gum.

 

[Gxas]

I used to have a bad habit of biting my lips when I played too hard. Think hardcore progression raiding in WoW or playing Legendary in Halo. I stopped it by sucking on lollipops while gaming for a few months and it broke the hanit entirely.

I'm in the top 1000 players in the world in Swat in Halo 5 right now, and that can get extremely intense. Just like raiding in WoW did haha. I've contemplated lollipops, but I'm still also fighting to cut out a lot of bad sugars and I'm not sure if it would be worth it even for that little amount of time. It would be nice to do though.

Pretty mundane advice compared to what you're getting, but I grind my teeth sometimes and I deal with it by chewing gum.

I swallow gum when I play, otherwise that'd be perfect.

 

[Worgen]

I've tried to switch to biting my tongue since its pretty tough. Just make sure you don't start grinding your teeth, that can do a ton of damage to then, your body might even get into the habit of doing it when your asleep.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I have the same problem, as I do a lot of things that are bad for my mouth and teeth in general. I grind my teeth both in my sleep, and during the day, I chew on the inside of my cheek and lip, and I often do these things in times of stress as well as when I'm highly concentrated on something else.
My teeth are in bad shape as it is. Horrible alignment, low to no enamel protecting them, and they are obnoxiously sensitive to just about anything (the right temperature of air could cause them to hurt).

 

[Odbarc]

Replace one habit with another. If your on your computer, your hands will be too busy to take over so there is no cure.
Snack on food.

 

[sanamia]

Carrots or other hard vegetables cut into strips. Fruit like Apples, pears.

You can "toy" with them, suck them, chew them, and it's not unhealthy. I basically skip breakfast and lunch altogether and just chew on vegetables the whole day.

and while it became just another habit like biting on pencils or my own lips. It has the added benefit of not eating a lot of junk while in front of a computer.