Chronic tongue and lip biting while eating

Hello @chiefd67 and welcome to Mayo Connect. I can understand your wanting to find answers to this problem. I'm wondering if sores form in your mouth as a result of the inadvertent biting.

You shared that this has been going on for a year now. Did any illness or accident happen prior to this symptom? Is it always when you eat or does it also happen when you are talking?

Thanks for your contact.
The only sores I have are the ones where I bite and they currently heal quickly. I only bite when I am eating and as stated I have to eat very slowly and I still bite myself, but usually not as severe as if I was chewing faster.

I wonder if anything in this related discussion might be helpful or so familiar to you.

- Tongue biting while talking: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/tongue-biting-while-talking/

Thanks, but no. The article talks about biting the tongue while trying to talk.

I bite my tongue while trying to eat - period. Trying to figure out why, but it seems no one can explain the reason.

No injuries prior to this starting. I have had degenerative disc's in my neck for about 50 years. Pinched nerves come and go, some very severe. I take no meds for pain as they all are addictive or cause serious side effects.

I have a similar problem but it has several reasons that causes it. It happens when you eat because when you chew the food, it’s causing misalignment of your lower jaw. If this is happening like mine, you can hear and feel a clicking kind of sound at the back of the jaw where it attaches to the upper jaw bone. It can hurt too and accidentally make you bite your tongue or cheeks causing what’s known as a Cancor sore.

Another reason I’m afflicted by it is because I have dentures but seldom wear them. This has caused the lower jaw to shrink causing the misalignment. The damage is done and cannot be corrected without major jaw bone surgery to correct the shrinkage. I assume an oral surgeon could help to correct or ease the hinge issue in the back of the jaw. One thing to remember, the harder the food is to chew before swallowing, the more problems it creates and more chances to bite your cheek or tongue by mistake. So the softer the food, the better off you’ll be.

Thanks for your reply. I do not have a clicking or popping sound in my jaw (yet). However, you are right, the harder the food the greater the chance of biting my tongue, lips, or cheeks.

Yes, this happens to me a lot and I know it has to do with the alignment of my teeth. I won’t pursue this because I don’t have good dental insurance. It only covers one cleaning a year.

I too constantly bite my cheeks and tongue. While eating if I dont eat slowly I dig such a hole in my cheek, then because it’s swollen I bite it again and again. I don’t bite my tongue as often but I’m miserable. So it you find something out please let me know. I haven Autonomic Neuropathy and Small Fiber Neuropathy. No idea if this contributes to this or not because my illness if the gift that keeps on giving. Like chewing my lips and cheeks and tongue so bad that often I won’t eat to avoid additional trauma or to re-injure the same spot over and over.

I’ve had Long Covid for a couple years now, which has caused some neurological problems. I’ve been having this chewing/biting issue from time to time since then. I think I’m chewing normally but then suddenly I find I’m biting the inside of my lips and cheek. It’s weird.