What to do if you can't open your mouth after eating betel nut

The juice in betel nut has a very unique taste. Many people like to eat betel nut. Eating betel nut has both good and bad effects on the human body. The disadvantages of eating betel nuts also include being unable to open your mouth. The main reason why you can't open your mouth after eating betel nut is because you eat too much, so you should pay attention to the amount.

1. Why can’t you open your mouth after eating betel nut?

When eating betel nut, it needs to be chewed for a long time so that all the juice in it can be completely penetrated and squeezed out. The muscles in the mouth also engage in long-term activities. In addition, betel nut residue is seriously irritating to the oral mucosa. Over time, it can easily cause submucosal muscle fibrosis. Once the muscle is fibrotic, it will affect the opening of the mouth.

2. Avoid eating betel nuts

If long-term chewing of betel nut has a slight impact on the opening of the mouth, you should quit chewing betel nut as soon as possible, reduce the mechanized movement of chewing betel nut in your mouth, and at the same time reduce the continued damage of betel nut residue to the oral cavity. You should first regulate the external injuries in the oral cavity.

3. Eat a light diet

If you eat too much betel nut and experience symptoms such as being unable to open your mouth, in addition to quitting betel nut, you also need to eat a light diet, avoid spicy and irritating foods, and avoid smoking and drinking, so as to accelerate the healing of internal and external injuries in the oral cavity.

4. Mouth opening exercise

After a period of conditioning, the trauma in the oral cavity has basically healed and you no longer feel any pain. You can then perform appropriate mouth-opening exercises. It may be a little painful at the beginning because the fibrotic muscles will be strained. You need to endure and persist, and slowly increase the degree of mouth opening. It will take about 3 to 5 months to return to normal.

5. Cancer treatment

Some people cannot open their mouths because of betel nut chewing. It is not entirely due to fibrosis of the oral muscles, but there is also the possibility of oral cancer. Chewing betel nut is one of the high-incidence factors of oral cancer. Such patients need to treat the cancer lesions first, and those who need surgery must undergo surgery as soon as possible to avoid the spread of cancer cells.

6. Vitamin B Supplement

B vitamins promote the recovery of oral mucosa. Therefore, if you cannot open your mouth after chewing betel nut, you need to take some vitamin B tablets regularly to speed up the healing of oral internal and external injuries. In addition, if there is oral inflammation, you need to use some oral anti-inflammatory drugs for anti-inflammatory treatment.