Biting the Cheek / Gum

It begins almost unnoticed. A small bite while eating. A spot that keeps slipping between the teeth. The inside of your cheek becomes raw, your gum burns, and you wonder why that particular spot refuses to heal — because the moment it does, you bite again. Sometimes it happens while eating, sometimes in your sleep, sometimes in the middle of the day, when you're thinking, concentrating, or enduring a situation in which something inside you is simmering.

Medically, this is often attributed to dental misalignment, stress, or tension patterns in the jaw. Much of that is true. But the persistence with which your mouth keeps injuring that one spot tells another story — one that doesn't show up on an X-ray.