How many times have you accidentally bitten the inside of your cheek while eating? Everyone has an accidental cheek bite once in a while, but if you do it often, it could signal a bigger problem. Cheek biting could indicate that your teeth are not properly aligned, causing problems with biting and chewing. If so, you may need braces or Invisalign to solve the problem.
Ohana Orthodontics has seen several patients who have come to us with problems biting their cheeks or tongues. We can show them how misaligned teeth can cause the problem and how treatment with braces or clear aligners can help keep this from happening.
Why Do I Keep Biting My Cheek?
How can you tell if your teeth are misaligned? Biting on the inside of your cheek is one indicator, but there are others. An easy way to tell is to see if your midlines line up. Smile into a mirror. Look at the line in the center of your two upper front teeth (incisors) on the top and the bottom. The lines should line up. If they don’t, then your teeth may be misaligned.
You may be biting your teeth because of a crossbite of your molars. If you relax your jaw, do you find your back upper teeth resting on the tongue side of your lower teeth? If so, you probably have a crossbite. If other upper teeth rest on or behind the lower teeth, that is also considered a crossbite.
These are a few examples of a misaligned bite. If you have an overbite or underbite, your teeth are misaligned and must be repaired.
Other Problems With Misaligned Teeth
Misaligned teeth can cause more problems than just biting your tongue or cheek. Some of them are serious.
TMJ Disorder
Aside from cheek biting, misaligned teeth could lead to temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ Disorder), which can cause pain, jaw popping, and deterioration of the joint between your skull and lower jaw.
Speech Problems
Misaligned teeth can also cause speech issues because your tongue needs to hit a certain spot on your teeth to make certain sounds. If the teeth are out of place, the sounds may not come out correctly.
Digestive Issues
Misaligned teeth can even cause digestive issues. The digestion process starts in your mouth with chewing. Your mouth releases saliva, breaking down the food as you chew. The food can be broken down properly if you can’t chew it correctly. That means the stomach and gut must work harder to break down your food. That can cause indigestion, gas, and other digestive problems.
How to Help With the Pain From Cheek Biting
Cheek biting doesn’t feel good. It causes pain and possibly a bit of bleeding. It can also cause worse issues. A cheek-biting sore can develop into a very painful ulcer that can take a while to heal. While it’s rare, these bites or sores can become infected. You can also get sores from biting it that harden and become lesions on your tongue. These painful sores and lesions can make eating difficult.
There are over-the-counter medications that can help with cheek bites or sores. When applied, they place a thin coat over the sore that protects it while it heals it. Feel free to ask us if you need help finding the right product to help your cheek sore.
What Can Cheek Biting Do Over Time?
Without proper treatment, cheek and tongue biting will continue, which means the sores and lesions will continue. Over time, that could cause digestive issues because you don’t chew your food properly when trying to avoid touching a mouth sore.
Remember that misaligned teeth can lead to other issues, including weakened teeth. Your teeth are designed to meet a certain way. If your bite is misaligned, it puts added pressure on certain parts of your teeth. Over time, that added pressure can wear down your enamel, leading to chips, cracks, or broken teeth. Weakened enamel can also increase the risk of tooth decay.
If you consistently bite your cheek or tongue, you must consult an orthodontist about fixing the problem.
Can Braces or Invisalign Help With Cheek Biting?
How do you stop biting your cheek? The best way to stop biting your cheek is to fix the cause of the cheek biting, which usually is misaligned teeth. The best way to do this is to consult an orthodontist. If you are in Canby, OR, you can contact Ohana Orthodontics and schedule an appointment for a free consultation.
Our first step is to fully examine your mouth, including taking digital impressions and X-rays. Using these impressions and X-rays, we can determine what dental issues you may have, including crossbite, overbite, or crowded teeth, that could be causing you to bite your cheek or tongue.
After determining the problems, we walk you through the possible solutions. Would Invisalign work for you, or would your issues be better suited for treatment with braces? Would you prefer metal braces or clear braces? You have lots of options through Ohana Orthodontics!
How Do I Pay for Braces or Invisalign?
You may wonder if paying for braces, or Invisalign is worth it to stop biting your cheek. With all the problems that can come from misaligned teeth, the answer is a resounding YES! So how will you pay for braces? Ohana Orthodontics is ready to help with that!
We offer in-house, interest-free financing with extended payment options to our patients, so your treatment plan can fit your budget. We also accept major credit cards and most insurance plans. We’ll happily work with you to see what your insurance will cover.
In addition, we take third-party financing from CareCredit, a healthcare credit card that can be used for health-related expenses. CareCredit can be used to cover what your insurance may not.
At Ohana Orthodontics, we don’t want costs to come between you and better oral health!
Braces and Invisalign in Canby, OR
If you bite your cheek often, you may have misaligned teeth. Braces or Invisalign could repair your teeth and reduces your chances of biting your cheek or tongue. That will save you a lot of pain! If you’re in the Canby, OR, area, come in to see us and let us help ease that cheek pain!
