“Gleeking” is a term that describes the projecton of a jet of saliva from under your tongue out of your mouth, like a spitting cobra. Gleeking can be done deliberately or accidentally.

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What Causes Accidental Gleeking?

Accidental gleeking can occur when saliva is ejected from your sublingual and submandibular salivary glands. These glands are positioned under your tongue on the floor of your mouth. Their job is to produce saliva.

Gleeking may occur when you unintentionally apply pressure to this area, typically when you yawn, talk, or eat. If the pressure is applied the right way, it squeezes the glands and forces out the saliva in a spray.

How to Gleek on Purpose

Gleeking gained widespread attention on social media platforms when people posted videos showing off this so-called talent with tips on how to do it. The trend grew into a TikTok challenge, urging people to demonstrate their gleeking skills.

While there’s no standard procedure for gleeking, anecdotal advice indicates that the following steps should result in gleeking:

Generate saliva: You will have to generate an adequate amount of saliva before you attempt to gleek. You can usually do this in one of the following ways:

• Yawn a few times.
• Run the tip or side of your tongue along the sharp tips of your lower teeth.
• Suck on sour candy.
• Chew on the tip of your tongue.
• Drink water to stimulate your salivary glands.

Find the right gleeking technique: Different gleeking techniques are demonstrated on social media. However, since gleeking requires a series of specific moves inside your mouth, it is hard to demonstrate the process that occurs before the saliva shoots out. The goal is to apply pressure so saliva is projected from under your tongue.

Ways to purposely gleek include:

• Stick out your mandible (lower jaw) as far as you can. Press your tongue very hard against the roof of your mouth behind your central incisors.
• While flexing your tongue, extend your lower jaw, then bring it back and down. Breathe in slightly and press your tongue hard against your palate.
• Suck air under your tongue then flex your tongue and press it against the roof of your mouth.

How to Prevent Accidental Gleeking

Accidental gleeking can be embarrassing when it happens to you. It can also trigger disgust in the person who is the recipient of the shooting saliva. While accidental gleeking can happen to anyone, you can work to prevent it with the following strategies:

• Locate the salivary glands in your mouth; avoid exerting pressure here when you yawn, eat, or speak.
• Take small, frequent sips of water or other beverages throughout the day to promote swallowing.
• Maintain good oral hygiene with daily brushing and flossing to avoid food debris and bacteria from interfering with the normal process of saliva production and swallowing.
• Practice swallowing regularly. If you need a reminder to swallow, download the “Swallow Prompt” smartphone app or set an alarm to swallow regularly.
• Limit your intake of very sour or very sweet foods that may trigger the production of excess saliva.
• Contact your dentist or primary care provider to determine the cause of uncontrolled gleeking and ways to prevent it or treat underlying conditions causing it.

Is Gleeking Normal or a Sign of a Health Issue?

There is no scientific evidence to indicate that occasional unintentional gleeking is abnormal. However, persistent gleeking might damage your self-confidence and interfere with your social interactions.

Your chances of accidentally gleeking may increase if you frequently produce excess saliva. This condition, called hypersalivation, can be a symptom of several health issues that include:

Gleeking vs. Spitting

Gleeking and spitting are closely related. Generally, gleeking is a special type of spitting. While gleeking involves projecting saliva from under the tongue when triggered, the mechanism of spitting is different.

Spitting involves forcibly projecting saliva and other contents from your mouth. It requires using your lungs and muscles, including those in the throat and the orbicularis oris, a ring of muscle around the mouth that forms the lips. This muscle helps you pucker and forcibly release air to spit.

Though gleeking is purely recreational, spitting has additional value in helping you avoid swallowing toothpaste, gum, or other potentially harmful substances.

Key Takeaways

• Gleeking is projecting saliva from your mouth from under your tongue, accidentally or intentionally.
• Social media platforms such as TikTok have videos and tips on how to gleek intentionally.
• Occasional accidental gleeking is unlikely to be a health concern, but frequent unintentional gleeking may be due to underlying health conditions.