It’s so uncomfortable to bite your tongue or lip while eating your favorite food or playing sports. Although biting your lip or tongue happens often, it can become a serious and complicated condition to handle. Sometimes the severity of damage to your tongue or lip is more than what you expect. Such injuries can occur during fights, falls, nail-biting, unconscious chewing, seizures or sleep spams. Fortunately, you may be able to treat your injured lip or tongue at home. Otherwise, you must visit your emergency dentist to receive professional dental care. You have to know that biting your tongue can even lead to a puncture, cut or wound. Therefore, it’s essential to learn what you should do at home or when you need to visit your emergency dentist. You can also call your emergency dentist, and they can explain the things you have to do to eliminate your pain and discomfort. According to an emergency dentist in Hamilton, rinsing your mouth with warm saltwater is highly recommended to keep the wounds clean and alleviate pain. You have to check your tongue and lip every hour and watch out for symptoms of infection. If you notice excessive redness, tenderness, bleeding, fever or pus in the wound, don’t waste time and visit your emergency dentist right away. Here we explain everything you should know about soft tissue injury and how it becomes a dental emergency.
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How Much Bleeding Is Normal from a Bitten Tongue or Lip?
Experiencing bleeding after biting your tongue or lip is normal, and there is no need to worry about it. But if bleeding continues after 15 minutes of applying pressure, you should see your emergency dentist. The amount of bleeding usually depends on how severe the wound or cut is. Still, continuous bleeding isn’t a good sign, and your oral condition should be checked by your emergency dentist.
When to Seek Emergency Dental Care?
While bitten lip or tongue isn’t usually a cause for concern, you need to be careful about them. Some cases, especially ones caused by sports injuries, need to be handled by a professional to prevent further problems. Sometimes it’s possible to find your teeth damaged and fractured in addition to your lip or tongue. Occasionally, the wound may be so wide requiring stitches to hold it together while it heals.
Signs to Visit Your Emergency Dentist
If you experience severe injury, you should visit your emergency dentist to prevent possible complications. Ignoring signs of infection and not seeing your emergency dentist can lead to such complications:
- Severe infection
- Impaired tongue function
- Disfigured tongue and lips
- Blocked airway
- How to boost your healing time
If you find your bitten lip or tongue a severe injury, you need to go through a recovery time to get totally healed. Most wounds are minor and get healed within seven days. In other cases, you need professional emergency dental care to protect your oral health and prevent possible infection. The most practical thing to do is to rinse warm salt water to keep your wound clear. Don’t forget to eat soft foods and seriously avoid alcohol, salty and spicy foods, citrus and smoking.
Remember, your emergency dentist is always ready to help whenever you want!
