PrincessPanic89
27-08-16, 01:36
First of all, I should state that I have severe health anxiety but specifically cancer related. I'm convinced I'm going to get cancer or that I might even already have it and even saying the word is a trigger for me.
So I hate going to the dentist. Ever since I can remember, I've been a cheek biter. Not a once in a while thing, it's a compulsion. It's called dermatillomania which is an obsessive compulsive skin picking disorder (I don't just bite the skin on my cheeks, I bite it around my nails, I pick spots, scabs, dry skin, any kind of skin imperfection) I can't stop myself from doing it because it physically drives me insane knowing there's loose skin hanging off my cheek (sorry, gross I know) anyway when I was younger, the dentist told me you can get mouth cancer from cheek biting due to the constant cell growth that can encourage mutations. So I didn't go back to the dentist for about 10 years.
Then I cracked a tooth and was in so much pain that I had to go. Weirdly the dentist I had didn't mention my cheeks but I got the crack filled. A few weeks ago I started getting pain and sensitivity in that same tooth. I bit the bullet and went back and had a different dentist. She said the tooth had an infection, gave me antibiotics and told he to come back for a check up. I did and she was poking and prodding and then she said she wanted to check the skin inside my mouth was healthy. She seemed very shocked by the state of my cheeks and actually said "your cheeks are a mess" and wrote down on her notes that I have severe cheek biting injuries. Then she said what I was dreading. That cheek biting can cause cancer.
Now I'm panicking. I've been doing it for so long and I didn't want to hear it the first time but now another dentist is telling me the same, I'm scared. What if the damage is already done? I'm 27 and been doing this since I was very young. I'm trying to convince myself that if she had been concerned there was anything malicious there such as a lump or weird looking changes, she would have suggested a biopsy or a better look at least. But I'm still freaking out. I don't know how to stop. She suggested a bite guard but that's for nightwear and I mainly bite during the day. Sometimes I don't even realise I'm doing it. It's hard to describe but it's like when you have an itch, you leave it and it just continues to itch and eventually it drives you so mad you just have to scratch it. Has anyone else got a similar habit? If so, were you able to stop and if so, how? I'm hoping that there's still time for me to reverse the damage I've already done.
So I hate going to the dentist. Ever since I can remember, I've been a cheek biter. Not a once in a while thing, it's a compulsion. It's called dermatillomania which is an obsessive compulsive skin picking disorder (I don't just bite the skin on my cheeks, I bite it around my nails, I pick spots, scabs, dry skin, any kind of skin imperfection) I can't stop myself from doing it because it physically drives me insane knowing there's loose skin hanging off my cheek (sorry, gross I know) anyway when I was younger, the dentist told me you can get mouth cancer from cheek biting due to the constant cell growth that can encourage mutations. So I didn't go back to the dentist for about 10 years.
Then I cracked a tooth and was in so much pain that I had to go. Weirdly the dentist I had didn't mention my cheeks but I got the crack filled. A few weeks ago I started getting pain and sensitivity in that same tooth. I bit the bullet and went back and had a different dentist. She said the tooth had an infection, gave me antibiotics and told he to come back for a check up. I did and she was poking and prodding and then she said she wanted to check the skin inside my mouth was healthy. She seemed very shocked by the state of my cheeks and actually said "your cheeks are a mess" and wrote down on her notes that I have severe cheek biting injuries. Then she said what I was dreading. That cheek biting can cause cancer.
Now I'm panicking. I've been doing it for so long and I didn't want to hear it the first time but now another dentist is telling me the same, I'm scared. What if the damage is already done? I'm 27 and been doing this since I was very young. I'm trying to convince myself that if she had been concerned there was anything malicious there such as a lump or weird looking changes, she would have suggested a biopsy or a better look at least. But I'm still freaking out. I don't know how to stop. She suggested a bite guard but that's for nightwear and I mainly bite during the day. Sometimes I don't even realise I'm doing it. It's hard to describe but it's like when you have an itch, you leave it and it just continues to itch and eventually it drives you so mad you just have to scratch it. Has anyone else got a similar habit? If so, were you able to stop and if so, how? I'm hoping that there's still time for me to reverse the damage I've already done.