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Tongue chewing is the process of chewing or biting your tongue while you sleep. It may not be a consistent issue, but it can happen to anyone during sleep for various reasons. In this article, we’ll be discussing the factors for tongue chewing and ways to help prevent it. If left untreated after repeated instances, it can become a serious oral health issue, so it’s best to prevent it from happening.
Let’s first discuss the symptoms of tongue chewing so you have a better chance of catching this troublesome issue early. Most instances of chewing your tongue occur at night while you sleep. It may wake you up or you may do it lightly as you sleep and wake up with a sore tongue. The most obvious sign is waking up from pain in the middle of the night or being jolted awake with intense pain and bleeding from your tongue. That’s a clear indication that you bit your tongue or that you chewed on it.
Other symptoms include:
If you are experiencing these symptoms, you may be a tongue chewer. There are a few reasons that you are experiencing this oral phenomenon, and the good news is that most of the causes are treatable either by going to your doctor, or dentist, taking medicine, or wearing a night guard. You don’t have to suffer from tongue chewing.
The first cause of tongue chewing is teeth grinding commonly referred to by its official name of “Bruxism”. Now you may have heard this term before from your dentist or it may go by other names like “TMJ” but they all mean the same thing and that’s teeth grinding. When you grind your teeth in your sleep not only do you damage your teeth by wearing them down but you also put your tongue at risk and in potential danger of chewing it. Bruxism is easily preventable though by wearing a night guard while you sleep. This device is crafted and designed for maximum protection and comfort. You can receive one from your dentist or from SportingSmiles at half the cost but without sacrificing the quality. Wearing a night guard is the ultimate prevention from tongue chewing if you find yourself grinding your teeth at night. If you wake up with morning headaches, a sore tongue, and sensitive teeth, chances are that you’re chewing your tongue while you grind your teeth.
Another cause of tongue chewing is a misaligned bite. This means that your jaw or teeth are not properly lined up. When you clench or bite down, areas of your mouth that are supposed to be protected can become at risk from your teeth chomping into that area. This may also be called malocclusion. Malocclusion can restrict the tongue and its movement of it to force it to rest unnaturally in your mouth. To have your jaw and teeth examed we recommend scheduling an appointment with your dentist for an examination of your oral health.
Drug users may experience tongue chewing when using recreational drugs. Side effects of drug use can include adrenaline rushes, euphoric feelings, and speeding up activity in your central nervous system. Drug use should be taken seriously and you should seek help through an addiction counselor if you continue to suffer from it. It can hurt your overall health including your oral health. Drug abuse may also cause more stress and anxiety which is a huge triggering factor for teeth grinding.
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One of the final reasons for tongue chewing may be linked to medical conditions that happen while you sleep. Nocturnal seizures and sleep rhythmic disorders may suddenly jerk you awake in the middle of the night or while you’re starting to drift off to sleep. These harsh and rapid movements may damage your tongue or cause you to chew on it. As these are medical conditions and may be treated differently for each individual, we recommend scheduling an appointment with your doctor to fully diagnose your health condition and come up with an appropriate solution.
If you do suffer from tongue chewing or if you suspect that you do it in your sleep make sure you follow the proper path to finding a solution.
SportingSmiles can help when it comes to protecting yourself with a custom night guard. We’ve been crafting night guards since 2009 and with our patented impression kit, customers are able to take impressions of their teeth from the comfort of their homes and then ship them back to SportingSmiles with our free 3-way shipping. There’s no need for dental visits, no insurance required, and no expensive dental bill. We are typically HALF the cost of the dentist but craft the same premium quality night guards designed to prevent teeth grinding and tongue chewing.
If you’re interested in a night guard, we have six different kinds. Each night guard is designed to prevent specific degrees of teeth clenching or grinding. You can sleep peacefully through the night knowing that your teeth, jaw, and tongue are protected from the dangers of teeth grinding and tongue chewing.
