Gum-Chewing, a Painful Culprit
Headaches are common in childhood and become more common and frequent during adolescence, particularly among girls. Typical triggers are stress, tiredness, lack of sleep, heat, video games, noise, sunlight, smoking, missed meals, and menstruation. But until now there has been little medical research on the relationship between gum chewing and headaches.
Could gum-chewing be responsible for migraines in teens?
Recently, a group of 30 teenagers who experience chronic headaches and have excessive gum-chewing habits were recruited to participate in a trial.* The teenagers were asked to fill out a health and habit questionnaire; they were then divided into four groups based on the number of daily hours of gum-chewing:
Group 1: Up to 1 hour of gum-chewing a day
Group 2: 1-3 hours of gum-chewing a day
Group 3: 3-6 hours of gum-chewing a day
Group 4: More than 6 hours of gum-chewing a day
Participants were asked to discontinue chewing gum for 1 month, reintroduce the habit, and then complete another questionnaire/interview.
Out of the 30 participants, 26 reported significant improvement, including headache resolution for 19 participants. 20 of the improved patients who reinstituted the habit of gum-chewing, reported symptom relapse within days.
Based on the results of this trial, it was determined that excessive daily gum-chewing may be associated with chronic headaches.
Two previous studies linked gum chewing to headaches, but offered different explanations. One study suggested that gum chewing causes stress to the temporomandibular joint, or TMJ, the place where the jaw meets the skull. The other study blamed aspartame, the artificial sweetener used in most popular chewing gums. TMJ dysfunction has been shown to cause headaches, while the evidence is mixed on aspartame.
Dr. Watemberg** favors the TMJ explanation. Gum is only flavorful for a short period of time, suggesting it does not contain much aspartame, he says. If aspartame caused headaches, he reasons, there would be a lot more headaches from diet drinks and artificially sweetened products. On the other hand, people chew gum well after the taste is gone, putting a significant burden on the TMJ, which is already the most used joint in the body, he says.
“Every doctor knows that overuse of the TMJ will cause headaches,” said Dr. Watemberg. “I believe this is what’s happening when children and teenagers chew gum excessively.”
Awareness of this association could have a meaningful impact on the quality of life for children and adolescents with chronic headaches who chew gum excessively. By advising teenagers to simply stop chewing gum, doctors can provide many of them with quick and effective treatment, without the need for expensive diagnostic tests or medications.
*CDA Journal, VOL 42, pg. 153
**Pediatric Neurology, Dr. Nathan Watemberg of Tel Aviv University-affiliated Meir Medical Center
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