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In short
It’s quarter past seven on a Tuesday evening. Homework at the kitchen table. Your daughter is stuck on her spelling list, and the end of her pencil is in her mouth again. It’s already flat and splintered. The hoodie string next to it is dark and wet.
On your phone, two tabs are open. One shows a long, bumpy stick that looks like a building block. The other shows a slim pendant shaped like a gemstone. Both are chew necklaces. Both look fine. You just don’t want to pick the wrong one.
This one is for that moment. Choosing a first chew, and getting it used.
Chewing usually does a job. It gives the jaw something firm to push against. It often gets stronger when things are loud, busy or difficult. That’s why asking someone to stop rarely works. The need just moves to the next thing in reach.
So a first chew isn’t a fix. It’s a better place for that need to go. The best way to find the right one is to watch for one ordinary day, without correcting anything.
Look at three things. Which teeth? The front, nibbling a pencil end. Or the back, with the sleeve deep in the mouth and the jaw working like it’s chewing gum. How hard? A light nibble, deep tooth marks, or things bitten through. And when? Homework, waiting, the car, bedtime.
Jot it down. It takes one day, and it’s worth it. Chew products can’t be returned for hygiene reasons.
If most of the chewing happens at the back, start here. The Brick Stick is just over six centimetres long and about one and a half centimetres wide. Its long shape is made to reach all the way to the back teeth.
It has two textures. Big bumps on one side, small bumps on the other. A child who likes to explore with their mouth can flip it over and find something different. And it looks like a building block, which many children find easy to say yes to.
It comes on a detachable cord of about ninety centimetres. If that’s too long, pull the thread out of the clasp, tie the knot shorter, and cut off the rest.
The Krypto Bite is a pendant shaped like a gemstone. It’s about seven and a half centimetres long and just over a centimetre across. It’s slim, it hangs neatly, and in black or dark blue it looks like ordinary jewellery.
That makes it a good first chew for children who don’t want anything that looks like a toy. Teenagers and adults often choose it for the same reason. It works in the hand too. Some people turn it between their fingers during homework or a phone call, and only chew when they need to. It comes on a breakaway cord of about ninety centimetres.
One thing worth knowing for later. Slim shapes feel softer than thick ones at the same level. ARK puts it like this: if you like the Krypto Bite in Medium, you might want the Ring in Standard.
Both chews come in three hardness levels, each with its own colours. Standard is the softest, for mild chewing. Medium is firmer but still chewy, for light to moderate chewing. Strong is the firmest, and it’s the longest lasting for avid chewers.
Go back to your notes from the day of watching. A child who sucks and nibbles will usually be happy with Standard. Deep tooth marks in pencils point to Medium. If silicone toys have been bitten through before, think Strong.
Then let the colour follow the level. The Brick Stick in Standard comes in dark blue, red or yellow. Medium comes in black, lime, pink or turquoise. Strong comes in blue, dark green or purple. The Krypto Bite has much the same range, with Strong in dark green or purple. Choose the level yourself, then let your child pick the colour within it.
And no chew is indestructible. Have a look every few days. At the first sign of wear, replace it.
Show both pictures, in the colours of the right level, and let them choose. A chew they picked themselves is a chew they will wear.
Start on a calm day. Homework time, or in front of the television. Not in the middle of a hard moment. Put it on, say very little, and carry on.
Swap, don’t scold. When the sleeve or the pencil goes in, hand over the chew without a word. The less it’s talked about, the more it gets used.
Keep it where the chewing happens. Around the neck, or hanging on the chair at the homework spot.
If the cord or the clasp gets chewed instead, try a bracelet. Cords and clasps aren’t made for chewing. The ARK Brick bracelet twists on and off the wrist, and ARK suggests it for exactly this.
If the chewing is almost all pencils at a desk, a pencil topper might be the simplest first step. It fits over the end of a pencil and has a solid end for chewing. It’s one of ARK’s smallest chews and hollow at one end, so it isn’t for hard chewers.
Whatever you choose, an adult should keep an eye on things.
And if the first chew doesn’t land, you haven’t failed. You’ve learned that it was too soft, too firm or the wrong shape. The second choice is much easier.
Tell the teacher. Explain that the chew replaces the pencil, the sleeve and the fingers. Agree that it stays with your child and gets washed at home. For desk work, some children prefer something to hold rather than wear. The Tetra Bite has four textured arms, each long enough to reach the back teeth, and it spins on a finger as a fidget.
Chewing doesn’t stop at eighteen. Plenty of autistic adults chew pen lids, collars or the skin around their nails. A black Krypto Bite in a meeting looks like a pendant. Nobody looks twice.
Choosing for yourself? Do the same day of watching, then pick the shape and level that match.
Same table, a few Tuesdays later. Same spelling list, it seems.
The pencil in her hand still has its end. The hoodie string is dry. Around her neck hangs a lime green Brick Stick, a little flattened on the big-bump side.
She still chews. She just chews the thing that was made for it. Some evenings the pencil still sneaks in. Most evenings it doesn’t. That’s a good first chew.
All our chew jewellery is in the Chewing and biting category.
