Most people like the occasional stick of chewing gum. In fact, about 16% of Americans claim to have 8 or more sticks of gum each week! This probably started at a young age for most. Many likely experienced the magic of watching the gumball spiral around the stem of a candy machine, seeing their favorite big-league star with a wad of gum in their cheek, or having a competition with friends to see who could blow the biggest bubble. As we get older, people tend to use it either for a breath mint or out of habit to give themselves something to do.
Unfortunately chewing gum has picked up a bad rap for some out there. Not just for the emotional pain that it has caused those who were unlucky enough to have stepped on a sticky glob while wearing their new pair of shoes, or even the psychological distress it may cause when someone is smacking and chomping away in a quiet room. For some, it can cause physical pain in the form of the dreaded “TMJ.”
What is TMJ? Often used to describe pain or symptoms, TMJ is your temporomandibular joint. You can think of it as the hinge that allows your jaw to move and your mouth to open. A better way to name the issue is temporomandibular joint disorder or TMD. TMD can be experienced as any limitation to the function of your jaw. That may be due to pain, tension, jaw locking, clenching, or popping.
Gum chewing isn’t necessarily the problem itself. Excessive gum chewing is the bigger problem when it comes to the TMJ. During a typical meal, a person chews on average 1.5 times per second with an average meal time of over 16 minutes. That’s about 660 chews per meal!
So, if the average person ends up chewing on a piece of gum for about 45 minutes, that’s 4050 chews. That’s over 6 times as much! Could you imagine going to the gym and lifting 6 times as much weight as you normally would? That is a ton of stress on your jaw! Long duration gum chewing will end up exhausting the masseter, temporalis, and pterygoid muscles.
An even bigger issue can arise when someone is continuously chewing on one side of their mouth. Not only will this fatigue the muscles of the jaw more quickly, it can also result in more stress to the joint structure. The increased amount of stress and fatigue in this region is likely to lead to TMD. The areas people commonly experience pain from chewing gum are the jaw joint, along the jaw line, in the cheek, in the ear, or in the temple area.
Although chewing gum can irritate the TMJ or cause dysfunction, do not feel like you cannot take part. Use it as a mint and enjoy the flavor! A good rule of thumb is to get rid of the gum as soon as the flavor runs out. You should also use discomfort as your guide. If you feel like your jaw is starting to bother you, a simple solution is to spit the gum out (please don’t litter).
Now, these rules do not apply to everyone. If it hurts for you to open your mouth or bite down, then gum chewing probably shouldn’t be the priority for you at this time. You should consider seeking the help of either a physical therapist or dentist to help resolve this issue and get you back to chewing all of the gum you desire! Please contact me if you have any questions and we can discuss your situation. Reach out through email, phone, or check us out on Instagram and Facebook.
