Biting your lips until they bleed often stems from stress, anxiety, or deep focus, turning into a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB), but can also be physical due to teeth alignment (malocclusion) or jaw issues (TMD). It's a subconscious way to cope with emotions, but becomes problematic when it causes pain, sores, or bleeding, sometimes linked to OCD or ADHD, and requires addressing the root cause through stress management, therapy (like CBT), or dental fixes.
The Habitual Lip Biter
Chronic lip biting is a common anxiety symptom and can even be an example of a body-focused repetitive behavior, or BFRB. Once you identify your biting as a nervous habit, you can start to consciously adjust your behavior, and even reach out to friends and family for support.
A new symptom of anemia: lip-biting, a cosmetic symptom. Tohoku J Exp Med. 1958 Dec 25;69(1):39-40. doi: 10.1620/tjem.
Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors, or for short, BFRB. They can range from anything from biting your lip until it bleeds, to spending hours ripping at your scalp. It can be caused by anything from OCD to Autism to ADHD but most of the time it begins in childhood and the cause of it is never identified.
In addition to self-injurious behaviors such as hitting with bare hands, banging their heads on walls and furniture, and pricking or pinching;3 oral habits including bruxism, tongue thrusting, lip biting, and pica (eating objects and substances such as gravel, or pens) have been reported among children with ASD.
The most common cause of lip biting is stress and anxiety. Depending on how frequently it occurs, it may range from being habitual to chronic. For some people, it may be a way to deal with tension, unbeknown to them that they are causing more harm.
Lip biting can be caused by stress, anxiety, or nervous habits. It can also be linked to oral issues, such as misaligned teeth or jaw problems.
Those affected with dermatophagia typically bite the skin around the nails, leading to bleeding and discoloration over time. Some people also bite on their skin on their finger knuckles which can lead to pain and bleeding just by moving their fingers.
Causes of Lip, Cheek, and Tongue Biting
Sometimes, people bite their lips out of habit. People who are unable to control the habit of lip biting may be diagnosed with a body-focused repetitive behavior (BFRB). BFRB is classified as being related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Use a Competing Response
This method, sometimes referred to as habit reversal training, involves replacing lip biting with a different action whenever the urge arises. For example, you could press your lips together gently or lightly stretch them in an exaggerated smile for a short time.
Stress and anxiety can make you come up with coping mechanisms such as lip-picking. Body-focused repetitive behaviors such as lip biting can also aggravate you's stress levels due to the feeling of being helpless.
Lip biting, like lip compression, is one of the ways that we pacify ourselves when we are stressed. It helps to relieve tension that may be minor and transitory.
Moisturize and protect.
Apply petroleum jelly or lip balm regularly to prevent the wound from drying out and cracking further. Products like Aquaphor, Burt's Bees, or Vaseline create a protective barrier while your lip heals.
Morsicatio buccarum et labiorum (excessive cheek and lip biting)
Beyond the immediate effects on the lips, lip biting can adversely affect dental health. Repetitive biting exerts undue stress on the teeth, potentially causing enamel wear, chipping, or even fractures. Enamel, the protective outer layer of teeth, is crucial in shielding them from bacteria and decay.
So, when people receive bad news or witness a horrific event, the lips quickly stiffen—muscular tension increases and blood constriction takes place to the point the lips may actually look ashen. Under extreme stress, they are compressed tightly together or are pulled into the mouth, and they literally disappear.
The Psychology Behind Lip Biting
Nervousness: One of the most common manifestations of lip biting is during moments of nervousness or anxiety. When faced with a stressful situation or when we're feeling anxious, many of us find solace in biting our lips. It's almost as if our lips become a natural stress ball.
Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRB) is an umbrella term for undesirable, repetitive motor activities such as Trichotillomania (TTM), Skin Picking Disorder (SPD), nail biting, cheek chewing, lip biting, finger sucking, finger cracking and teeth grinding.
Studies have found that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aggregates in families, and twin studies estimate the proportion of the phenotype variance due to genetic factors (heritability) to be about 90%.
A broader mouth is another facial feature commonly associated with autism. This refers to a wider oral structure, including the lips and the distance between the corners of the mouth.