How to Stop Your Tongue-Sucking Habit

Tongue sucking is a behavior that can look like you’re holding a hard candy or lozenge between your lips and tongue.

Although less common than thumb or finger sucking, tongue sucking can produce pain, discomfort, and embarrassment. The habit occurs in both children and adults.

If you or someone close to you has a tongue-sucking habit, there are home strategies and professional treatments that can help. Read on to learn practical ways to overcome tongue sucking.

Possible reasons

The reasons someone sucks their tongue vary. It may be a learned habit from childhood or related to a medical issue or medication.

In children

From infancy, non-nutritive sucking — sucking not for feeding — provides calming and reassurance.

A 2014 review noted that children commonly use pacifiers or finger sucking for comfort, especially before naps or bedtime, and this often continues until about age 4.

Non-nutritive sucking frequently occurs alongside other comforting objects, such as:

• blankets
• stuffed toys
• dolls

Some youngsters don’t naturally abandon tongue sucking when expected. This can be linked to health issues or persistent needs for security and anxiety relief.

At times, tongue sucking coexists with related conditions, such as tongue thrust (also called reverse swallowing).

With tongue thrust, the tongue rests against the front teeth rather than behind them.

In adults

For adults, tongue sucking can be a coping mechanism for anxiety or a side effect of medications or neurological conditions. One example is tardive dyskinesia.

Tardive dyskinesia involves involuntary movements often tied to disturbances in dopamine pathways. Symptoms can include:

• facial grimacing
• jerking of arms or legs
• protruding tongue
• repetitive sucking or chewing motions of the mouth, including tongue sucking

This condition can be triggered by drugs such as metoclopramide (Reglan).

Other medications, like prochlorperazine (Compazine) and certain antipsychotics used for schizophrenia, may also lead to tardive dyskinesia symptoms.

Similar movement symptoms may be seen with other disorders, including:

• cerebral palsy
• dystonia
• Huntington’s disease
• Tourette syndrome

If tongue sucking emerges in adulthood and proves difficult to control, consult your physician to explore potential underlying illnesses or medication-related causes.

How to stop

There are self-help techniques to reduce tongue sucking, and if they fail, professionals can offer additional options.

On your own

If the behavior is a habit rather than medical, try these at-home approaches:

• Replace the action with another behavior to interrupt the pattern — for example, chewing sugar-free gum.
• Use reminders to break the cycle and increase awareness. A repeating timer, phone alert every 15–30 minutes, or a habit-tracking app can help you notice when you’re doing it.

For additional context related to oral habits that can occur during sleep, see biting tongue in sleep.

With professional support

If self-directed attempts don’t work, clinicians can offer several interventions:

• A removable oral appliance can act as a reminder and physically make tongue sucking more difficult; this is sometimes called “reminder” therapy.
• Therapy with a mental health professional can uncover reasons behind the habit, such as anxiety, and teach alternative coping strategies to reduce the behavior.
• A speech-language pathologist may be useful if tongue sucking affects speech or eating. They can prescribe exercises and techniques to lessen the habit over time.

It’s often necessary to try multiple tactics and be patient: habits form over time and require consistent effort to change.

Why stopping matters

Continued tongue sucking can lead to several complications, including:

• changes in bite, like an open bite or crossbite
• tongue enlargement (hyperplasia)
• sores or injuries on the tongue
• malocclusion, meaning misaligned teeth
• pain from repetitive, prolonged sucking

A 2015 review also highlighted emotional impacts: people may feel embarrassed because the habit often happens unconsciously.

How much you’re affected depends on factors such as:

• how long you’ve been sucking your tongue
• how many hours per day you do it
• the intensity of the sucking

When to see a doctor

If you’ve tried self-help measures and can’t stop, seek medical advice. A clinician can recommend strategies tailored to you.

Dental evaluations or referrals to specialists may identify how the habit is influencing your teeth or jaw alignment.

For concerns about a child’s tongue sucking, speak with their pediatrician.

A pediatrician can review developmental milestones and advise whether non-nutritive sucking is age-appropriate, and refer you to specialists or interventions to help your child quit.

Final thoughts

Tongue sucking can affect people of all ages for various reasons. Mindfulness and habit-replacement techniques can help some individuals quit on their own.

However, seeking professional care is important if you need help stopping a tongue-sucking habit. Addressing it may improve your:

• comfort
• speech
• self-confidence

For information about recovery after oral procedures that may relate to oral habits, consider reading about tongue piercing healing stages.