There are only 3 types of silicone, and the most durable form is what is used to manufacture silicone chew products. The quality of silicone matters, and is standard across China made chew necklaces, but the structural design of the chew is how you can identify whether a chew product is safe for you or your child just by looking at it.
Giving you this knowledge and education puts the power back in your hands, so you aren’t 100% reliable on a chew necklace seller to determine whether something is the right chew necklace for you or your child’s needs. The power to decide what 'safe' means for your child and teen should be in only your hands.
When product testing dozens of chew necklaces myself over the years by directly chewing on them myself to determine quality, level of chewing it can withstand, and how it feels chewing on it, so this has given me a lot of first-hand knowledge about the technical specifications behind chews.
This article will be brief, but packed full of educational information.
My motivation for creating this article is because I am very tired of seeing the chewer being blamed for chewing products being chewed through, instead of blaming the structural design being sold to the wrong person, which is the actual reason.
So to begin, let’s identify the various structural designs and what the structures mean for you.
I will use pendant examples from The Autistic Innovator, and some AI illustrations, to show you the differences.
Smooth Chew Necklaces
When you see a chew pendant with no texture, no ridges, and only seams on the side, this chew necklace will get teeth marks very quickly.
The harder you chew on a smooth pendant, the more likely it is to become deformed and get covered in indents from teeth marks.
People who like to softly chew will be less likely to have this issue with creating teeth marks and chewing through it.
Without any texture at all on the pendant, the smooth texture makes it more durable, and more mechanically sound, for light chewers and moderate chewers who chew lightly more often than chewing harder.
As an example this is the Teardrop Chew Necklace available here.
This smooth surface with light seams on the side makes this best for light chewers and will provide a decent amount of resistance for those types of chewers.
As another example, let’s look at the Heart Chew Necklace I designed myself for hard chewers.
Now the top half of the pendant is very smooth and thin, so if a hard chewer chews on the top half then it will absolutely get teeth marks on it, but the very specific texture on the bottom half is exactly what makes it withstand the amount of physical force a moderately-hard or hard chewer will use when chewing on a pendant.
Thin Necklaces
As an example of thin necklaces, let’s use the Leaf Pendant Chew Necklace as an example.
This necklace is the thinnest necklace in the Chew Necklace Collection.
It is also super flexible and bends easily while it is chewed on.
There is a light texture resembling the veins in a leaf that gives it more durability since it’s so thin and flexible.
Without durable texture (like on the Heart Chew Necklace), thin chew necklaces will always be better for light chewers.
Now if a medium chewer or hard chewer were to chew on the Leaf Chew Pendant, while it may be ideal for a light chewer, it will quickly become a dangerous choking hazard, even for a medium chewer. Light biting physical force put on the necklace is absolutely perfect for this pendant.
Another example of a thin chew necklace pendant is the Prism Chew Necklace.
This design is long, thin, narrow, and with a smooth design.
The texture on the pendant is its shape with multiple sides, so that helps keep it from wearing down so fast. If it were just a round stick shape, it would fall apart more quickly.
When a person puts a lot of physical jaw force on a thin pendant with no texture and/or no thickness, the pendant will get crushed when harder physical force is put on the pendant.
When you combine a thin pendant with zero texture on it, like this Dog Tag Chew Necklace, and while great for those who don’t put so much biting force on the pendant, the stronger the force the greater the teeth marks.
When I tested that necklace and chewed on it hard with a significant amount of force for a decent amount of time, the lack of texture and smoothness caused it to get deformed rather quickly.
Thicker Chew Necklace
The perfect example of a thick pendant is the Bar Chew Necklace pendant.
As you can see with the Prism Chew Necklace seen above next to the Bar Chew Necklace, there is a massive size difference and shape between the two designs.
When a necklace is as firm as the bar chew necklace, and so thick, it makes it capable of lasting longer with tremendous jaw force put on the pendant.
The texture on the pendant is light and short, so the texture is more for sensory feel than adding to the durability.
This necklace is the thickest one in the store, and a lot thicker and more firm than the vast majority of chew necklaces being sold across the chew necklace market.
Flexible Pendant vs Firm Chew Pendants
The perfect example for this flexible vs firm is the Feather Chew Necklace available here.
The bottom half of the feather is flexible and thin, and the higher you go up the pendant, the thicker and more firm it gets.
This particular pendant can withstand moderate bite chewing force because of the thin to thick structure.
Instead of raised texture it has indented texture, so this type of texture where it is indented gives it the ability to last longer and not get teeth marks on it.
Hollow Chew Necklaces
Anything with no resistance in the middle is a life threatening choking hazard for absolutely every type of chewer, no matter what amount of physical bite force will be put on the hollow chew.
Unlike the thick chew necklaces, hollow chews will fall apart extremely fast, so just don’t ever put those in your mouth.
You will be much safer if you just stay away from every hollow chew.
Shimmery Designs
When a chew pendant has a thin, very shiny shimmer to it, that is something to be cautious of.
Many shimmery or metallic silicon's use Mica or metallic pigments that can create "fracture points" in the silicone at a microscopic level, or they use coatings that can flake off.
When I learned about the shimmery appearance and what makes it shimmery during my site wide safety audit, I immediately removed the very lightly shiny chew necklace I had in my store seconds later, and will no longer offer it as an option, so now what is available are just normal colors. I also contacted the customers less than 5 minutes after it was deleted, told them the truth, took accountability for not doing my due diligence to know this before they ordered it, offered free color replacements, and the situations have been remedied.
I have a lot of the very lightly shiny color in stock, but your safety matters much more to me than not selling all the inventory stock of a single variant color in the store. It will just be put away into a storage bin in the closet never to be seen or sold again.
Even though the shimmer is barely a shimmer, so the risk is low, I’d just rather not take any chances with your safety.
Now You Know
That concludes the education on the various types of chew necklaces.
Now you have the knowledge to identify for yourself what could be the right chew necklace for you or your child.
I hope this helps you make more informed decisions on your own.
When a chew pendant is put in the mouth, and different levels of jaw force are put down on the chew, we have to be much more careful because of the risks.
There are ways to meet your chew stimming needs without risking your life.
Now you won’t be 100% reliant on a store or seller to tell you whether it’s appropriate for you or your child and teen, you can tell just by looking at it how much bite force it can withstand.
Ready to identify the right chew for you now that you have this knowledge? Check out the Chew Necklace Collection here in The Autistic Innovator.