Headaches can be explained in some people by excessive gum chewing.
Clinical features:
(1) The patient complains of headaches.
(2) The patient chews gum.
(3) The headaches disappear or improve after gum chewing is stopped.
(4) The headaches recur if gum chewing is restarted.
Associations may include:
(1) temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction
(2) sensitivity to aspartame (in which case headaches occur with aspartame-containing gum but not with gums without aspartame)
(3) stress
