Trying to Break a Habit?

I have had a habit for as long as I can remember. I chew the insides of my cheeks and, it is ruining my gums. Basically, for those of us who do this nearly subconscious act, we are widdling away our gums down to the nerve and, it can result in root canals and loss of teeth. So, back in March, I broke out an old school habit breaking remedy that I remember hearing about when I was a kid. It was used to break habits like cursing, gossiping and who knows what else. I call it Rubber Band Therapy and, while I fell back into the habit of biting the insides of my cheeks again about 2 months ago, it works. I managed to kill the habit in 13 days (I started that session of RBT March 17th...St. Patrick's Day). They say it usually takes 28 days to break a habit. I was tickled to have broken it in just under half of that time. I managed to be cured for 4 months before something got me all torqued up again and, I harvested that stupid habit all over again. So, I am back to snapping my wrist each time I catch myself chewing my face. I will break this habit again.

So, the rules of Rubber Band Therapy are to wear a rubber band around your wrist and just give yourself a nice snap each time you find yourself performing your bad habit...whatever it may be. You will find yourself snapping your wrist a lot around the end of the first week because, it is at that point that you will start noticing how very much you do your habit. Then, by the end of your second week, you find yourself doing the act less and, therefore, snapping less. The theory behind RBT is to associate your bad behavior with self-imposed pain.

Despite my set back, of all the attempts and methods to break this habit that I have tried, RBT was the only thing that worked for me. Even the mere threat of causing myself cancer in my mouth was not enough to stop this bad behavior. And, that is what my Dentist told me. As you constantly break down your cells inside of your mouth, it can cause cancer. Not scary enough to make me quit so, I had to revert to physical pain and, knowing that it worked before keeps me positive that it will work again.

Another suggestion is to set a goal. Put your RBT start time on a calendar and set the end of your habit for 28 days later. If you know that you have to quit by a certain date, it will bring out your competitive edge and you will succeed. Possibly even before that date!

And, for those of you out there that chew the insides of your cheeks, do you need to use one of those tooth sensitivity toothpastes to brush your teeth? That is because of the exposed nerves that you are causing by the erosion of your gums. If you can break the habit, you will stop feeling that pain soon after. Your Dentist may have accused you of grinding your teeth in your sleep. That may not be the case. It is more likely your bad habit of chewing the inside of your face. I do grind my teeth perhaps once every other month. I know because I don't sleep well and, when I do grind my teeth, I wake myself up doing so. For as many times as I told my Dentist this, she didn't believe me until I showed improvement in my gums and got rid of the pain about a month after chewing my face. Now that I am back into my habit, my teeth are back to being sensitive. I am close to curing myself of the habit though as I can already feel a difference when I brush my teeth. They hurt less already!

So, give RBT a chance. See if it works for you!