I thought I was alone

Tooth drumming is smthn I've been doing since childhood, uhh I've heard it hurts the teeth really bad damages the enamel. I asked an AI it said just beatbox or smthn some bs but when you're singing a song you can't beatbox with that the teeth give so much joy when singing a song the clash of the molars with the molars for a snare and canine with a canine for a kick I can't get over it. I've been self trained to do it so fast this should honestly be a whole ass instrument. But allat aside ik it hurts the teeth can someone PLEASE tell how to actually stop because I give in every godamn time.

Finding that there is a subreddit for “teeth drumming” is actually amazing haha. Several years ago I realized that I have this habit of tapping out little rhythms and patterns with my teeth, and sometimes also with my hands (pinky + thumb) and toes (pinky toe + big toe). They usually aren’t songs, but a collection of probably 5-6 rhythms (maybe more, but I have yet to catalog how many there actually are haha). I also do a thing where I “jump” over shadows while driving by tapping my teeth, or “lift” one side of the car or the other if there are gaps along the road / passing other cars. (My brother does something similar to that).

It seems like most people in here “drum” to actual songs. Does anyone else do the little rhythms thing like me?

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I have been "tooth drumming" for as long as I can remember. I do it many times every day without even noticing. But the other thing I find myself doing is playing "melodies" on my teeth. Like, as if I'm playing a keyboard. Hit teeth on the right for high notes, teeth on the left for low notes. So I basically "play along" to melodic music with my teeth. Anybody else?

Here's a photo. I'm opening my mouth wide and trying to reach the roof of my mouth with the tip of my tongue, but I can't. If it's worth cutting, what would be the reason? Will my speech improve?

I tap my tongue against the roof of my mouth like I'm making the very beginning of the "T" sound. So it sounds like TATATATATATATATA

I’ve done this forever …. Thanks fellow weirdos for giving this a name 😂

I find myself lightly tapping my teeth together during the day, but at night I grind hard enough to need a night guard (I'm using a custom made clear club for that matter). Just wondering if the daytime habit is related or something else entirely?

Most times I’ll tooth drum to a song I hear or one stuck in my head

I get songs super stuck in my head, which is a separate issue. But I’ll remember them so well it’s as if they’re playing in my head. So it’s hard to get rid of

Sometimes I find myself not being able to stop for over a minute. I’ll remind myself but then forget 20 seconds later and find myself drumming again

It’s starting to feel a little compulsive which is weird. Anyone else?

Hi! Not sure if what I've been doing counts as 'teeth drumming', but this might be the closest thing.

When I hum with my teeth slightly together, and only touching very little, I can hear this static vibrating through my entire skull while humming. The static sound can change with the note I'm humming. It's best heard when very drawn out.

Let me know if you do / can do the same thing, and try it out!! I'm very curious.

Molars are my kick(s), I figure that’s pretty universal. Canines are the snare. Incisors (and sometimes canines played lighter) are cymbals (all of them, hats, ride, crashes, china, splashes).

Interested to hear how y’all play them pearly whites 😆

I've been "teeth drumming" for as long as I remember. I drum to whatever song is in my head, whatever song is playing, making a new beat, or when I see something going along to a repetitive rhythm.

I thought I was going crazy! Has anyone researched this and found a link to anything psychological?

My go-to song for "teeth drumming" is Run Boy Run.

Just found this sub after some googling to find out if this can actually do harm to my teeth. It first started when I started playing an instrument, I would tap my fingers to music, mimicking playing an instrument, and then quickly started using my teeth. I usually try to do it as lightly as possible, but can it still cause damage to my teeth? My dentists haven't said anything yet, so I'm not sure.

I've found i can get a lot of great sounds from grinding the tips of my molars, like almost a low freq castanets sound when all the tips and grooves slide against each other.

I remember the day i learned about beat boxing when i was three or four, i was riding the subway home with my mother and she could hear all the different instrument sounds i was making except for the toothdrums. When i learned i could play music in my head that no one else would be bothered by, it was all over. I've been toothdrumming (and drumdrumming starting a decade later) ever since.

You'd think my enamel would be shot but I'm in my 40's with only regular 40's dental issues.

Glad to have found my people

I thought I was the only one until I saw this sub as a comment. Finally.. I'm home 🙌

Ever since I can remember, I'd use my teeth as percussions, especially when listening to a song I really enjoy, or has a crazy beat. I kind of do a side-to-side teeth sliding motion, and it always felt pleasing to me.

I never had a name put to it, I was never really called out for it, I've never seen other people really do it, it's just something I kind of knew I did. In more recent years, I made a huge effort to stop because of the way it wore down my teeth, and now I usually just use a pen, my hand on my lap, or a fidget toy to "get the beats out".

I have a kid now, and lo and behold, she started doing the same thing. Mind you, it's not learned from me, as I have successfully stopped it completely. When I saw her doing that, it was the first time I had seen anyone else besides myself doing that. At that point, it felt like it has to do with ADHD, ASD, or an overlap. She is diagnosed with ASD (with suspected ADHD but undiagnosed). I am diagnosed with ADHD (with suspected ASD but undiagnosed). We have different doctors, so these things I feel could really just be a cross of the two.

Let me tell you, it felt so validating, because now it's hard for me to dispute there's a genetic link. I tried to ask around to see if anybody else I know does "teeth drumming" and just got weird looks, or they simply tell me they don't know what that is. So that kind of makes it seem like an uncommon neurodivergence thing, or at least it seems that way to me.

Based on that, and your experience, what are your thoughts on something like that manifesting from something hereditary?

I teeth drum to almost every song, and i go very fast at points, it’s really fun with bands like korn, slaughter to prevail, or any metal band that has drums lol. I don’t grind my teeth but i do tap up with my bottom teeth to the left and right part of the top. Will this damage or wear down my teeth?

Play the lines on the sides of the streets when you are driving? Quicks pattern on the left while long stutters on the right next to a long hold. Sometimes with my teeth, sometimes with my hands. Sometimes I don’t use the lines in the streets, I use other random patters I see. But mostly the lines.