Cut or Bitten Tongue, Lip or Cheek | Queens, Brooklyn, New York

What to do if your child has a cut or bitten tongue, lip or cheek

Understanding how to treat the wounds in your child's mouth can mitigate their pain, reduce the chances of infection, and allow for proper healing of the wound. An area that may provide relief is to rinse the area gently with clean water if the tongue, cheek, or lip was cut or bitten. Do not scrub the area, as it would cause pain and irritation. Allow the cool water to run on the area to flush out dirt and germs.

Wash your hands, take a clean piece of gauze or cloth, and apply gentle pressure on the wound to halt the bleeding. After the bleeding stops, a cold compress can be used on the site of injury to decrease swelling and alleviate pain; consider applying an antibiotic ointment to a cut or bite on the outer lip or cheek to decrease the chance of infection.

Encourage your child to rinse the wound with warm salt water every day to promote healthy healing. This can be done by dissolving 1 teaspoon of salt into a cup of warm water.

When to seek dental care

While cuts or bites to the tongue, lip, or cheek can seem frightening, in practice, most do not require dental appointments straight away.

If you cannot control the bleeding by applying hard pressure, if the cut seems like a puncture or gaping wound, or if your child shows signs of infection (for example, tenderness, swelling, redness around the cut or bite, and pus drainage), you should call us right away.

When in doubt, call 911 immediately

Time is of the essence in pediatrics, an emergency must be attended to immediately. In a situation when the health or survival of a child seems to be at stake, it is better to err on the side of caution and call 911. The longer the treatment is delayed, the worse the situation gets and the harder it is to save a child.