Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with chewing

Finger Pain & Nail Biting

Draccy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:43:33 -0800

Fingernail Filter: I know its been asked many times how to quit this compulsion. While that is a concern of mine, I need to know what to do to alleviate pain in the fingers from excessive fingernail biting. What do you recommend? I've heard people say that chewing fingernails is a bad habit, and can be stopped with strong will. I don't subscribe to that, in that I've tried so hard to stop. When I'm in the car during my hour commute, I can't help but chew. I do it beyond the point of pain, and continue. I have horrible nails, and the skin under them is torn up and bloody. I've tried clipping my nails so close down, and it makes no difference. I've tried the bad tasting fingernail polish and found it didn't deter me.

I've got so much pain in my fingertips today because I bit them way down. How can I relive the pain?

Also, what extreme remedies can you recommend for stopping this horrible compulsion?

Speaking English causes bad teeth? Combined with chewing gum, leads to more kids having to wear dental braces? Help me research this one; would like stats and links...

querty — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:11:40 -0800

Speaking English causes bad teeth? Combined with chewing gum, leads to more kids having to wear dental braces? Help me research this one; would like stats and links... (Just a theory) So many words in the English language require you to use your tongue to pronounce a word; most used being the word "the". During pronunciation of these words, your tongue hits the upper portion of your teeth. And I speculate that after thousands and thousands of times with your tongue hitting the upper row of teeth, it would push it out, causing malocclusion. Combine that with chewing bubble gum (blowing bubbles) and other bad habits (teeth grinding), many kids end up having to wear dental braces.

Also, I believe that most Asian languages have shorter characters, pronunciations, and come in short bursts which requires less of the tongue hitting your teeth. Hence Asian people having trouble learning English; skipping all the tail sounds, trying to speak English Asian-burst-style-really-fast. Russell Peters said it best: "When Chinese people speak English, they sound like they are chopping vegetables."

That said, how can I find stats for something like: percentage of population under 18 who wear dental braces, London (English speaking) vs. Beijing (Mandarin speaking)? Or the same stat but for London vs. Singapore (because of their chewing gum ban)?

Again, it's just a theory. Wikipedia doesn't have much on the cause of malocclusion, so anybody familiar with this dental stuff, your opinions, links, and other theories are welcome.

Kinky dog with panty fetish seeks edible clothing

Saxon Kane — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:15:34 -0800

Why does my dog eat women's underwear and shoes? I have an almost 6-yr old female boxer. Originally, my ex-wife got her when we were separated. When we got back together the dog moved in with her, and it was almost 1 year old, and long since fixed. The dog took to me as her daddy, and when I got divorced, I kept the dog.

When I was married to my ex, my dog would sometimes eat her shoes, underwear, and even bras. Some of this was no doubt just puppy excitement, as she chewed up a lot of stuff, including some of my clothes. But now she only eats women's clothing -- whenever I have a woman over, if she takes off her shoes or underwear and leaves them where my dog can get them, the clothing gets eaten.

So, why? Is it a jealousy/territory thing? A female bonding thing? A female pheremone thing? What?

Need some oral fixation!

repoman — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:03:39 -0800

I need to stay on a quite impressive roll of having given up a long held vice. Could you all please assist in this effort? Specifics inside. Brief history: Have chewed tobacco for most of my life. Just turned 40 and promised my bride I would give it up at 40. Most recently (past 3-4 years it has been the Swedish variety Snus. Before that it was the nasty Skoal, Copenhagen combo). I have been free of this monkey (without relapse) for about a month.

The big question: I need to continue feeding my oral fixation but am running out of ideas. What I need are specific favorites. No gum or candy please. And nothing generic like carrots (unless they are infused with blue cheese). Anyway, the closest I can come to an example is the Trader Joe's brand of habanero pistachios. Almost perfect, except I am really tired of them. So please be specific by brand and maybe where I can find your suggestions. I don't care what it is provided it is not sweet. Thanks a lot.

FYI: Dubble Bubble will not be marked as best answer.

Saucy Intruder — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:11:17 -0800

Aspartame-free chewing gum? Posting on behalf of my wife, who is allergic to aspartame. What's out there now that even Doublemint and Juicy Fruit are spiked with the nasty stuff? Googling gave me this, which gives me the V!@G4A heebie-jeebies. Is there anything based on sucralose? Or even something similar to the original Wrigley's mint-flavored chewing gums?

I need catproof earbuds

jenfu — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:28:03 -0800

Does anyone have any suggestions for catproof earbuds? My cat seems to find the tender plastic to be extremely succulent. She's eaten more than ten pairs. My boyfriend needs small earbuds because he can't sleep without listening to music and I'm hoping that some strong alternative to common earbuds exists. Last night she actually snuck up and ate them while he was asleep instead of waiting to find them since we've become clever about hiding them when not in use.

Bedding that a puppy can't eat?

dryad — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:07:38 -0800

Is there a good alternative dog bedding that our puppy can't consume? We have a 9 month old corgi, crate-trained, and so far he's found a way to chew/eat whatever bedding we've given him. So far, we've tried crate pad/pillow and blankets. Lately, we're noticing bits of blanket in his stools, and we'd like to avoid the health risks of his basically eating fabric and string. He's not a serious chewer, and we always crate him up with a safe chew toy (usually a "stuffed" Kong). His crate is solid plastic on the bottom, but since he does spend a fair amount of time in there (some time during the day, and all night), I feel bad putting him in there with nothing soft and cozy.

How do I stop my 4-year-old son from chewing?

jkaczor — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:23:51 -0800

How do I stop my 4-year-old son from chewing (on EVERYTHING!)? So - this started late July - he chews on everything.

(As per my post in another thread - http://www.metafilter.com/66323/Priests-dont-have-Sht-on-China#1904273)

Primarily his shirts from the neck out (this is getting expensive) - but straws, lego, plastic toys are all fair game.

Is it stress? Anxiety? Basic oral fixation?

However - to be fair, I chew on pens, straws and pretty much anything plastic. Should I just give up and let our rodent genes win?

You thought pickles and ice cream was weird?

Shoeburyness — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:06:47 -0800

Is there any danger to chewing on popsicle sticks, as long as I don't ingest any of the wood? I am heavily (38 weeks) pregnant, and the last month or so, I have a compulsion to chew popsicle sticks. Previously I had cravings to smell lumber. I do not actually ingest any of the wood, since having splinters in one's GI tract sounds like no kind of a good idea. I don't really feel compelled to swallow the wood, anyway, just to chew it. I don't feel compelled to chew anything that isn't plain wood (like pencils-- all that paint, yuck!) I don't have the urge to eat or chew any other sort of non-food items. Would this be considered pica even though I don't actually eat the wood?

I have tried taking additional iron supplements, but this didn't help. (My OB just tested my iron level, anyway, and it was apparently fine.) Neither did eating woody-textured foods like broccoli stems or almonds. Is there some sort of nutrient in wood that my body is craving? Is there anything dangerous in the wood that might be leaching out as I chew it? If I just get myself a bunch of popsicle sticks to chew, should I stick to ones sold for use with food, or is there any difference between those and ones marketed strictly for crafts? Will this go away once I deliver?

Attack of the fanged wool chewers!

Addlepated — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 18:54:36 -0800

Please help me defend my kids' teddy bears from the atrocities of the deranged Siamese! I have two cats. They are 3 and 4 years old. One's a Siamese and one's an Oriental Shorthair. They are normally fairly well-behaved with an occasional feline lapse of control in which they attack and systematically chew apart assorted members of my kids' stuffed animal menagerie. Last night my older daughter's two favorite plushies were brutally mangled in the night. There is discord in the house today. Please let me know your suggestions for weaning my brutal teddy killers off their prey.

I have read various vet pages which say:
- Siamese and their ilk are more prone to this behavior
- The suggested solution is to put the prone-to-chewing items out of cat reach, but this isn't addressing the root of the problem
- Some vets suggest medication, but this is only an occasional problem (once a month or so) and I'd rather not have to medicate the cats just for this

If you have addressed this problem, what has worked (or not worked) for you? I'm considering testing bitter apple spray on the plushies, but I'm also concerned that this will drive the felines to other chew toys, like sheets or clothing. The cats were much worse when they were younger (at one point we found a huge plushie stash under the bed where they had hidden their victims), but we've lost a couple of valued stuffed animals, gloves, and bathrobes this year.

(Bonus question - got tips on repairing holes in stuffed animals?)

Time for a new set of teeth?

vizsla — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:28:41 -0800

My teeth are a mess. I have a major lifelong grinding and chewing problem. The bottom set are very worn down, the top front teeth have crumbled in the past from chewing and I have crowns. I have numerous fillings and root canals and there are ominous cracks in several others. Is there a way I could solve this problem once and for all? I'm talking about fixing the teeth falling apart, not curbing the grinding. Assume cost is not an obstacle.

Chewy Chewerson

zippity — Sat, 20 May 2006 00:24:16 -0800

[Chewing Gum] Does this exist? A sugarless, flavorless chewing gum that loses its pliableness the longer you chew it? It seems every chewing gum I've encountered these days keeps its flavor and elasticity for as long as you chew it. Logically these two improvements have been a dream come true to chewing gum fanatics, but not to me!

Call me crazy but I actually long for the days when chewing gum would lose its flavor after about 15 minutes of chewing and would become harder and more difficult to chew the longer you chewed on it.

The closest thing I can come to that old flavorless piece of rock hard gum is by chewing cheap bubble gum, but I'd like to avoid that route since they are usually quite sugary.

What I'm looking for is a gum that's flavorless (or if it does have flavor, it better disappear quickly), sugarless, and becomes difficult to chew after half an hour. Does any gum (or gum-like substitute) like this exist?

Name this weird social phenomenon

snailer — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 14:31:45 -0800

name this weird social phenomenon. google proof. can involve chewing gum. I noticed this weird phenomenon where I live, and have been perplexed by it's reason for being, and also its name...

For those of you from Ireland or with a U2 obsession, you might know the train station where you get off to annoy Bono... (Killiney Station)

http://u2valencia.com/MOS/images/stories/Dublin_Tour/24.jpg

At this station, on the outside wall there is a line of chewing gum stuck to the wall at about chest height, and it stretches all the way from one end of the station to the other. It probably started in the late 70s and now is about 700 yards long. The station is beside the sea in a non-urban location so this chewing-gum-sticking weirdness is mostly done by train passengers.

The thing is, one person started it, but then other people saw it and took the cue to stick their gum to the wall. There is a name for this phenonemon which I just cannot find on the Web, it being a pretty "google proof" concept to search for. I think it began with "Auto" and is a two-word phrase. It was featured in Fortean Times many years ago.

Another example of this that I have seen is gone now, but it was an old dead tree which people stuck a particular type of coin into. The tree was pretty much covered in coins stuck in sideways, until some opportunist burnt it down, sifted through the ashes for change!

I'd love to hear your suggestions about this, and any other examples of this strangeness in your area.

Pepsin flavour

Cosine — Fri, 13 May 2005 11:01:12 -0800

Where does "Pepsin" flavour come from? My girlfriend and I both love Beeman's chewing gum and we've been trying to figure out what the heck "Pepsin" flavour is. It appears to be the same or similar to Winterfresh/Freshmint type of flavours in other gums but is stronger and better. I've used up all my Google karma on it and have a few semi-conflicting bits of info; I've heard that the Pepsin flavour comes from an enzyme extracted from pig or chicken stomachs and upon further searching I learned that Beeman's gum used to have a pig on the package however I've also been told that this is because you could "eat like a pig" and then settle your stomach with Beeman's. Anyone have any idea where the flavour really comes from or what it really is? Did the line about "eating like a pig" just come about when they realized an enzyme from a pig's gut was pretty gross?

How to stop chewing with your mouth open?

Anonymous — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 20:44:04 -0800

My girlfriend chews food with her mouth open. In the past four years, I've tried everything from polite admonition to blunt, borderline rudeness. She's not stupid, and she's generally well-mannered -- but she can't drop this habit. She's 23. Any suggestions?

How to quit chewing?

misteraitch — Tue, 16 Nov 2004 07:22:33 -0800

I bite my fingernails and gnaw at the ends of pens, all the more so if under stress, or after drinking more coffee than usual. Let's say I don't want to give up caffeine, and occasional stress is unavoidable: given this, how can I cut it out? Are there any former digit-nibblers here who have cured themselves of this unpleasant habit, & if so, how?

Why do athletes chew gum?

mdeatherage — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 21:03:16 -0800

Why do athletes chew gum? [no more inside]

Aversion to Eating Noises

yalestar — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 09:53:27 -0800

I have a strong, irrational aversion to the sound of people eating. Especially people that eat really loud and smack their lips and lick their fingers. Gum chewers make me want to explode. This neurosis prevents me from doing a lot of things like eating out with friends, etc. Anyone else out there have this particular problem, and have you found any way to deal with it?

Chewing Pens

tss — Tue, 08 Jun 2004 10:42:03 -0800

YuckHabitFilter/NeedMoreToWorryAboutFilter: Say you tend to chew on plastic pens while working, despite efforts to stop. Aside from the obvious Googleable dental detriments (tooth wear) and, um, choking risk I guess, are there any other dangers, esp. ones not grounded in Freudian analysis? Are you ingesting scary levels of leeching plasticizers and resins? If so, can you litigate? Kidding...