I feel relieved that I am not the only freak in the world who does this. I will bite my nails and then use the nail to stick under my top two teeth. Then I will try to twirl it around with my tongue. It not only is ripping up my gums and making me bleed, but it is also giving me sores on my tongue. I wish I could stop, but it just feels so good, but hurts at the same time. What is wrong with me?

I just searched "cutting the skin in front of teeth" and this came up. For as long as I can remember I have always loved to cut the gum between my two front teeth.
Honestly it is the most pleasurable thing in the world to me. The problem is once I start I can't stop and then my gums get infected.
I don't think any of this is related to stress or anxiety though. I have experienced OCD when I was younger, but I feel that I just do this because it is so enjoyable to me.

I am completely shocked that there are so many people who do this. But does anyone know why we do it? I feel like there has got to be some sort of medical reason for it.

As odd as this sounds I have experimented by cutting the gum in between other teeth but nothing feels the same or enjoyable like cutting in between my two front teeth.

There is a Family Guy episode where some random guy says, "And I have this canker soar that I keep poking with my tongue, but that's only making it worse!" Everyone could relate to this joke. So everyone does this to an extent.

But wow, i have done actually done this nail to gum picking. the gums feel num to it, like being hit with Novocain. it is really bad in terms of gum erosion, but for some reason I'd find myself doing with while watching tv

although im sorry to see other people that have this urge, i myself have had to deal with for as long as i can remember. im only 16 right now and have finally checked it out on the internet and it brought me to this page. although this is probably dangerous, ive been using my pocket knife lately to pick at my gums. this only seems to happen to me when im either dehydrated or lacking iron. so maybe next time you all have this urge, try drinking some water, it helps me.

I love to poke my hair into gums creating that pain - I have had 2 abcesses and 2 teeth pulled but I cannot stop - what is it?

I have been doing it since I was a kid and I will go through periods where I don't do it for months or years, then all of a sudden I get the urge for that kind of pain. And it feels so relieving to do it. But kind of painful at the same time. Weird! I'm not into the pain/pleasure thing really, but I've always just really craved the feeling since I was younger!

I have always had long fingernails. I usually wait til my pinky fingernails get really long and sharp, then poke or scratch into my gum and really dig into it. I'll do it until it throbs. My favorite are the two front teeth, so I try not to let them bleed cause people can see it. If It hurts too badly I'll rub the sore area with my tongue to soothe it a bit. Weird!

I've been doing it for a couple of days now, I just started a new jobs so maybe it is due to stress??

I have been doing this since I can remember. But I will bite my fingernails and with the piece I have bit off, I will stick it inbetween my teeth into my gums using my tongue. I almost always have a finger nail in my mouth and I will actually save my fingernails while I eat so I can put it back in my mouth later or just save them in my pockkets. I have never stopped doing this, and I actually saw someone who does the same exact thing on Mtv's Real World...not sure which season. But he knew what the disorder was called...I havent had any gum or teeth issues from it, but it is kind of wierd...i just like the feeling...

It is crazy to see how many people have this problem. I too can't leave my gums alone at times. I do know when it started though. When I had braces my gums stayed sore and swollen the entire time. My orthadontist told me it was because of lack of circulation because food isn't massaging your gums when you where braces so he adviced me to keep a toothbrush handy or use my finger to massage them myself. Well using the toothbrush led to me starting to like the feeling of poking at the inflammed gums. NOw I only bother them when they are inflammed. I've done the knotted detal floss, needles, enjoyed the denstists. Chewed on a hard toothebrush, finger nails, all that stuff.

What helps me not get into these situations was using arm and hammer sensitive teeth toothpaste. MY gums get less inflammed. I also try not to floss too much because that leads me to wanting to pick. When they do get sore I use steri-sol to rinse my mouth.

But now it has risen again because I'm pregnant and my gums are getting out of control, and I just can't stop picking them!!!

That euphoric feeling is microbes- there is an infection that needs to be treated. When you pick at it, it sends a pleasure signal to the brain, causing you to want to do it more. It does this to spread itself. Meanwhile, over the years, the gum infection spreads and recedes your gums throughout the entire mouth, causing cankers, flare ups, and tooth loss. Initially, use listerine 2x per day (the burn is very pleasurable in the "itchy" areas, and see a periodontist to treat the disease in your gums.

I laughed my ass off to some of this stuff only because it was so true and haha, I too have been sticking at my gums whilst reading every single message in this blog. In my head it feels good because my teeth are irritated it seems like and it stems into the root and its like a compulsive feeling to stick at them with a torn nail really slightly until it pricks at what feels like the nerve of my tooth and once I taste the taste of blood it feels like it is healing the annoyance, but then I want morrreeee like a drug. I have found, people, that the best way to overcome the urge is to try and stop picking for an hour and the urge will subside other wise your gonna keep picking and never stop. I remember playing video games and I would pause the game to pick at my gums and click my teeth together or scrape at my teeth just to rid this urking feeling in my teeth nerves ahhh its insanity I know you can relate. I see you picking your gums right now, stop it!!

haha, like many people in this thread, I have the same problem. Luckily for me, I poke my gums extremely rarely. To get that feeling of "it feels good, but not good" I have to prod the gums right where where teeth meet. Like say this is my mouth UvUvU. The Us are my teeth, and the small vs are where my gum meets up between the tooth meets. if I poke my gums right there I don't feel anything nice, but after like 5-10 pokes, its start to feel really nice. After a while it hurts, but still feels good. Thankfully I don't do this often so my gums aren't receding, but sometimes I find myself poking at the gums between my teeth viciously. I can't even explain it. It feels good, yet bad.

actually, just to add to my previous message, I don't just pick the junction between one pair of teeth when I do this, I tend to hit up my front most bottom teeth (three junctions, four teeth) or around 3-4 junctions near my top canines. After a while of picking them, after I bleed, I wait till they stop bleeding. Then if I run my tongue over them it feels good too, and tastes different. Not bad, or like blood, just different.

Haha, definately sounds like a weird fetish now.

sorry for the triple posting, but when I saw this I had to say more. If what this thread indicates, the picking of the gums gives up pleasure with a weird addition of pain, in my case the pleasure overrides the pain. It's not sexual, it's just like scratching a really bad itch no matter how much it hurts. When I was way young, like 5 or so I used to suck my thumb obsessively. My mother started trying different things, like putting nasty tasting things on my thumb etc. That worked well, but I kept sucking my thumb in my sleep. At that point I was around 10 or so and very embarrassed about my bad habit, and I started tying my hand (the one I sucked to my bedpost above my bed before I went to sleep (very loosely, just so I couldn't bring it to my mouth without much trouble). After around 6 months of doing this I did in fact, stop sucking my thumb altogether. Dunno if that helps, but good luck

In my attempt to find a dental tool i could use to pick my gums i came across this thread, had no idea that people actually do the same things i do, especially nail biting and using the finger nail/my tongue to dig between and down into the gums, i'll do it until the point where the nail is no longer sharp enough to hit a spot to initate the pain/pleasure or until my tongue gets sore...As a child my mother would always say she never knew a kid that liked to go to the dentist for cleanings, i did, it felt good to me. I do the nail thing quite often,excessively, sometimes i floss excessively as well until my gums throb, to me that's when they are clean, toothpicks are a last resort(too big to fit inbetween the gum and tooth the way i like). I've actually dreamt about going to the dentist and having a deep cleaning, i've requested to have deep scaling done when i don't even need it. my teeth and gums are healthy and i've been doing this for years. The only thing i can compare it to is a form of OCD, I don't have any stressors or anything else that would trigger it, in the back of my mind i do think that if I floss or pick until my gums bleed that eventually i'm making them stronger because at somepoint they will stop bleeding which means they are healthier. Now my gums rarely bleed in the areas that i like to pick in, yet the areas that I don't pick do bleed when i floss or brush. It's an addiction but I guess there's worst things i could be addicted to

funny! me too. and i've searched on the web a few times before and never found a thread or group about it, happy to have finally done so!

after years of doing it i developed a new things a couple of years ago. i buy coarse sandpaper cut it into a thin strip and pass it through my teeth and then sandpaper the bit of gum that is between the teeth (i do this between the fifth and sixth teeh from teh front). it bleeds, it hurts, i worry abit that my teeth will fall out, but it feels sooooo good.

WOW you guys are FREAKS! but i am too so it's ok, kinda. Not for the gums though.

My mom told me I have picked at my gums since i was a BABY! what kind of anxiety could a baby possibly have? I think the truth of the matter is that it just flat out feels good.Like an orgasm in the mouth. And in my case in the index and ring fingers under the nails on both hands AND my middle toes, but I never mess with that area - they're too far away.

That's probably the only way I was able to quit gum picking - I pick at my fingernails instead, which isn't quite as damaging. It just makes the fingernails look a little funky.

I never quit gum Poking completely, though. Just reading all of these posts about the sharp objects and the poking and the stabbing *AHHH* my nips got hard and i just had to take a little dab, just to remember the feeling.... hey maybe this is a fetish.

The point is that it IS possible to quit. Maybe not completely, but at least enough to let your gums grow back. Just realize how gross this habit is, like smoking or chewing tobacco or something. I think the fear of losing my gums and hence my teeth was enough to make me quit. It just has to be a gradual think, try to find something else to focus on.

I am a 28 year old female that has been poking at my gums on and off for years, for that pleasure/pain sensation.
I usually just use a fingernail, but when I feel like I need to support the urge even more, I get a toothpick.

Right now, I have a cold, so I am thinking it could definetley be cold/sinus related.

I looked up this peculiar search, after finding myself up and unable to sleep from my aching gums. I sat on the couch after getting a toothpick, and started pushing it in my gum on the right side, of my my upper gum and sharp tooth.

As I did this, I thought, this can't be normal, so I looked this up. I guess it does seem like I do it when I am sick. And I guess I do it in other parts of my gums too. It is very interesting to know that others have this habit and find it satisfying, because when I have mentioned this to family and friends, that laugh and say ill!

So there you have it, you find yourself still trying to satisfy your urge alone, even when your family isn't willing to understand, help, or just listen.

I’ve been biting my nails and driving them into my gums since childhood. I jam them between every tooth, I don’t isolate my pleasure to just my front two teeth, but every one. Often I jam them in so far that I’m able to retrieve them from the front side of my teeth, and occasionally they’ll get lodged, sometimes for days, periodically I forget they’re even in there. But I mainly prefer to use a fingernail repeatedly, in between many teeth, until it’s no longer structurally rigid enough to be useful.

I feel like I’m confessing a secret that I’ve kept private for years, and in a sense that’s the case. I didn’t know anyone else did this, I am writing this about six months after finding this site, but after finding it I told family and friends what I do, this site has somehow made it seem acceptable enough that I felt at ease letting it be known what I do. But in another sense I’m not confessing, it’s not something I’m ashamed of, or have a sense of guilt over, I love the pain/pleasure of the nail hitting a raw nerve. My gums rarely bleed nor have they receded, and seem perfectly healthy.

At one point during my teens I was a cutter. Although more common among girls, I was the exception. I started in college; I was an architectural student and often used an exacto blade for making models. Somehow I began using the dull ones to scratch my arms. I’d usually cut about 20 slashes, just deep enough to bleed, they’d often just leave a bloody line with occasional bead of blood. I did this for several months until I had a little too much to drink and accidentally forgot to check the sharpness of the blade prior to cutting. Unfortunately it was a new blade and I opened several gashes on my non-writing arm. My roommates saw the blood and after looking at my arm called 911. After getting them stitched up, I was carted off to the psychiatric unit. And that put an end to my cutting. But my gum poking was and remains my non-punishable source of pleasure. I remember telling the psychiatrist that there’s little difference between the pleasure and the pain and as long as I’m in control of how deep to jam my fingernails I can dictate the levels of pain/pleasure. I could return to cutting, because I’m sure the pleasure would still be there, however because it’s just not socially acceptable I refrain from going there. I don’t it during stressful times, I do it when I can find a nail long enough to do the job. If I could only get them to grow a little faster!

This is amazing. Never thought to look this up before, never even discussed it with anyone. I'm 23 and have been doing it as long as I can remember (this is like alcoholics anonymous). I am laughing to myself as I read parts of this, just because it is so true. "I like how it burns"; "toothpicks are great"; and my favourite: "A strange thing I used to use was the back of the remote which covers the batteries. The corners are really sharp.... hahaha" Are we mental?

Favourite tools: anything small and pointed. My nails, toothpicks, folded pieces of paper like the point at the end of a paper aeroplane (until the paper gets soggy and then I fold to a new bit), pencils, a fork, biro lids, any sharp bit of plastic. For some reason I'd never use anything too sharp like scissors or a knife - that just hurts, it doesn't "burn".

Where: The gums right between my bottom four front teeth and a bit below. My favourite bit is between the incisor and the canine. Nowhere else is any good. I also enjoy rubbing my tongue very hard against the back of these teeth.

When: When I'm bored. I'd stopped for a couple of months but started again yesterday when there was nothing to do at work. I think it may be stress-related too because I tended to allow myself to do it during exams or when I was up late writing an essay (as a treat or something? Mental.) I'll stop when the gums get a bit inflamed and white skin starts to come off. Stopping is really tough for the few days that the gums are healing, but then I'll go without for a few months (promising myself I'll never do it again!)

Why: It feels absolutely, absolutely, absolutely great. I mean it hurts, but the burning sensation is amazing. I have never self-harmed or suffered from depression and I'm a pretty happy person generally, so I never related it to self-harm before reading this. But I supposed the physical burning sensation distracts me when I'm stressed (converting emotional stress to physical), so it is a very lightweight form of self-harm. As I said, it's like a treat that I'm only allowed when I'm up late working. Also, as some other people have said, I have a very slight cold at the moment - but maybe that just adds a bit of stress (or boredom if you're off work) and causes you to do it.

I find the best way to stop is to have a hot drink (tea, coffee) or use mouthwash whenever you feel the urge to do it. It numbs the area for a bit. When the urge gets too much, replace sharp objects with blunt ones (like your fingers) and just apply a bit of pressure, so as not to impede the healing, or rub with your tongue.

But really, as many others have said (and I know this is annoying and rubbish) you just need willpower - what always stops me is the frightening thought that if I keep going I will do permanent damage to my gums. Also, when you're not doing it and the gums are just inflamed, it becomes sore. And not in the nice, burning way. After the hump of 2-3 days, when the gums have begun to heal, the urge goes away. For me, it only becomes a habit once I've started the poking and the gums are inflamed.

Thanks guys and good luck!

I am 22 and have been doing this ever since I can remember. I 100% relate to everyone! I also find that drinking hot tea helps me stop too... or just brushing my teeth.

I am currently in medical school and find that I do it more often when studying. I believe it is caused by stress. When you pick at your teeth you are causing your brain to release dopamine to help deal with the pain. This, in turn, (almost like eating spicy salsa) makes you 'addicted' to the dopamine. Even though it technically hurts, it feel great since your brain keeps on releasing dopamine. Now, you have learned to relate dopamine and the sensation it gives you to dealing with stress. I do not think it is technically a bad thing as long as you are not really injuring yourself.