Behavioral interventions for oral-digital habits

Nervous habits such as hair twirling, digit, lip, mouth, or tongue biting, bruxism, scratching, and object manipulation (Hansen, Tishelman, Hawkins, & Doepke, 1990; Woods & Miltenberger, 1995) have been defined as repetitive behaviors that serve no perceivable social function but may serve a tension reduction (e.g.. Woods & Miltenberger, 1995) or self-stimulatory function (Hansen et al., 1990). Oral-digit habits are likely the most prevalent of these behaviors, particularly among children. This chapter will focus on the behavioral treatment of the two primary oral-digital habits, nail biting and thumb sucking. For each, the review will start with a brief characterization of the problem, followed by a summary of methods for operationalizing the target behavior, and will proceed to a summary of the intervention research. The chapter will conclude with an overview of the current status of behavioral interventions for oral-digital habits.