Not to be confused with Xylophagy

Xylophagy

Xylophagy is a term used in ecology to describe the habits of an herbivorous animal whose diet consists primarily of wood. The word derives from Greek ξυλοφάγος "eating wood", from ξύλον "wood" and φαγεῖν "to eat", an ancient Greek name for a kind of a worm-eating bird...

Xylophagia is a condition involving the consumption of wood

Wood

Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

. It is one form of the eating disorder

Eating disorder

Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...

 known as pica

Pica (disorder)

Pica is characterized by an appetite for substances largely non-nutritive . For these actions to be considered pica, they must persist for more than one month at an age where eating such objects is considered developmentally inappropriate...

. People who suffer from this eating disorder usually consume things like paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

, pencil

Pencil

A pencil is a writing implement or art medium usually constructed of a narrow, solid pigment core inside a protective casing. The case prevents the core from breaking, and also from marking the user’s hand during use....

s, tree bark or other items made of wood. In addition to psychological disorders, people may eat wood as part of their religious beliefs.

Young children may exhibit xylophagia, but it is not normally associated with psychological issues; it is typical of the standard oral fixation of infants.

The most popular form of xylophagia is the consumption of paper.

Human behavior

Pencil chewing is sometimes related to xylophagia, due not so much with pencils being wood, but to the soft resilient character of the wood. At various ages, the behavior easily substitutes teething rings, pacifiers, folded paper, plastic tokens, rods, pens, hard cloth objects, hanks of hair, finger nails, and fingers. It is also sometimes associated with dental pain from dental root or ligament damage or infection, in which case tap sensitivity can be noted. It is rarely associated with diurnal bruxism

Bruxism

Bruxism is characterized by the grinding of the teeth and typically includes the clenching of the jaw. It is an oral parafunctional activity that occurs in most humans at some time in their lives. In most people, bruxism is mild enough not to be a health problem...

 & jaw pain or headache. See pediatric dentistry

Pediatric Dentistry

Pediatric dentistry Pediatric dentistry Pediatric dentistry (formerly pedodontics (American English) or paedodontics (Commonwealth English) is the branch of dentistry dealing with childrenfrom birth through adolescence...

.

Pencil chewing can also be associated with people who have trouble quitting smoking.