Right now I’m idly sticking a toothpick between two of my molars, really jamming it in there so it squeezes against the gums and the flesh between the teeth. It hurts, but it’s also quite pleasurable. I know I’m not alone in this either - other people have said they feel the same way.
When I was a kid and I’d get a loose tooth, I’d just keep wiggling and wiggling it until eventually it came out. Because I liked the sensation of it. It’s hard to put into words. It’s definitely pain. But I wouldn’t just prick my arm with a toothpick for no reason. I don’t get any pleasure out of that whatsoever, nor on any other part of my body. But for some reason, poking my gums with sharp objects makes me feel good.
Why is this?
And it’s not so much the outer areas of the gums - it’s really just the parts of the gums that are right between or around the teeth.
They’re sensitive and pleasurable, and I’ve read that the ‘touch’ nerves in the gums are some of the first to fully develop. Which is why infants are always putting things in their mouths. It’s not because they want to eat things, it’s so they can get a better feel of it. It’s curiousity, not hunger.
I read that, anyway.
With me, sometimes, there’s a very mild sensation that is annoying, and replacing it with a stronger sensation is pleasurable. I just generally don’t like light touching anywhere, though, and will rub myself fairly hard if I brush something lightly.
I’ll second you Towers, I know the exact feeling you speak of. Might it have something to do with helping the body enjoy less-than kosher once upon a caveman era? I’d imagine our teeth to be a bit less white a straight thousands of years ago, possibly chronic toothaches were the rule rather than the exception, and this type of strange sensation was what made eating bearable with a tender mouth.
this is why I look forward to my 6 month dental checkups. When the hygeineist gets the pick way in the back and hits that sweet spot that hurts but feels good too. Weird.
And to press on a bruise too, that feels good in a hurty kind of way. In fact anny injury I get I always have to touch it, [ress it caress it until Im used to touching it and the pain is no longer a surprise but familiar and no longer scary.
Although your example is not sexual, it sounds exactly like the way a lot of women describe having their nipples pinched or being spanked; it hurts a little bit, but it feels even better.
So I took a uhhhh.
A fork
Yeah a fork and I jammed it right in my uuhhh
Your nose
Yeah, I really shoved it up there, then I took a ahhh
A C-Clamp
Yeah and I just started cranking it down on my
On your ear lobe
Yeah, my ear lobe, I just cranked it down as hard as I could.
Maybe it’s just me, but contact on my teeth and gums I hate. That doesn’t count eating obviously…but having them cleaned or cleaning them myself is not a pleasurable experience.
I know what you are talking about. It is similar to “cutting” which happens mostly in younger females. Cutting can become a very serious addiction with bad consequences like scarring and hiding it from family and friends. There are probably a few factors at play but one is the release of endogenous opiates like endorphins triggered by certain types of pain.
A few years ago, I got into the habit of jamming things like straightened paper clips or whatever else was there under my fingernails. I barely realized I was doing it and it hurt but also triggered a small and distracting high. I started to damage the nail beds pretty far down and I made an effort to stop.
I wonder if the sensation the OP is describing is in any way related to that which makes kissing pleasurable? Sure, a toothpick is a far cry from someone else’s tongue, but maybe there’s an all-purpose setup of nerves in the mouth that covers both?
Also, if I might ask the OP, do you enjoy going to the dentist’s? Someone mentioned they did. I really can’t conceive of such a thing. Probably because I’m too busy pleading with a silent god that I don’t have any cavities this time around.
I’m familiar with the sensation you describe - it’s very similar to what you get when you poke or scratch at a healing wound or scab, or a charlie horse finally releases, or you relieve the itching in your ears with a Q-Tip (and yes, I know that I’m not supposed to do that!).
(I have always thought that it’s because the nerves are already sensitized, and you’re stimulating them in a different way than the existing the pain signals. But I’m no doctor and shouldn’t be putting wild guesses in GQ.)
It might be that your gums are a bit inflamed, and that inflamed gums like the sensation of pressure. Can you remember what it felt like to cut your adult teeth after your milk teeth came out? Pressure on the tender, inflamed place was simultaneously painful and pleasurable. My wisdom teeth cut through when I was in my 20’s, and I remember biting down on popsicle sticks and how good it felt, particularly when the point of the tooth first broke through.
Maybe the phenomenon exists because if it didn’t, babies wouldn’t feel the instinct to bite on things when they’re teething.
Nowadays I have an inflamed place between two molars, due to the teeth being a bit too far apart and crud getting lodged in there. I too like to introduce a toothpick in between the teeth and rub the gum. Seems to relieve the tenderness a bit.
If I don’t floss for several days then my gums feels exquisite near the incisors and canines when I finally do, especially if a little blood comes out from the plaque. It’s a little perverted because sometimes a little shiver will run through my body. If only a gumgasm were possible.
And when I had my wisdom teeth removed I had a lot of fun running my tongue over the warzone that was my back gums. Mmmm.
When I was a kid, every time I got a loose tooth, it never stayed loose long because I would twist it back and forth until it came out. I loved twisting a tooth 180 then 360 degrees. And clenching my teeth.
It pretty likely that the sensations verging or even becoming painful in cleaning teeth can be “enjoyed” is something that is hard wired into us. From an evolutionary aspect, tooth/mouth “grooming” and maintenence would be a positive trait as it increased the organisms’ likelyhood of having healthier teeth, living longer and more healthily, and making more babies.
Blood? Yikes. I seem to remember a dentist once telling me that gums would only bleed if they were infected somehow. I could, of course, have misremembered and/or hallucinated that, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said…
But that aside, I’m right there with the toothpick/gum crowd as well.