diff --git a/src/plopp/__init__.py b/src/plopp/__init__.py
index 6e84745c..57a53f09 100644
--- a/src/plopp/__init__.py
+++ b/src/plopp/__init__.py
@@ -44,4 +44,31 @@
 
 backends = BackendManager()
 
+# Workaround for thread-safety issues in matplotlib's mathtext parser.
+# The _mathtext.Parser singleton has mutable state (_state_stack, etc.) that is
+# not protected against concurrent access from multiple threads. When ipympl is
+# used with ipykernel >= 7 (which introduces additional threads for message
+# routing), concurrent calls to the parser can corrupt this state, leading to
+# ParseException errors like 'Expected end of text, found "$"'.
+# See https://github.com/matplotlib/ipympl/issues/610
+try:
+    import functools
+    from threading import Lock
+
+    from matplotlib._mathtext import Parser as _MathTextInternalParser
+
+    _mathtext_parse_lock = Lock()
+    _original_mathtext_parse = _MathTextInternalParser.parse
+
+    @functools.wraps(_original_mathtext_parse)
+    def _thread_safe_mathtext_parse(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        with _mathtext_parse_lock:
+            return _original_mathtext_parse(self, *args, **kwargs)
+
+    _MathTextInternalParser.parse = _thread_safe_mathtext_parse
+
+    del functools, Lock
+except Exception:  # noqa: S110
+    pass
+
 del importlib