FAQ - Bitten Lip

After any dental treatment where your child has been anesthetized (numbed), your child might want to scratch his/her face because there is a tingling sensation as the anesthetic is wearing off. Please watch that your child does not scratch or bite his/her cheeks, lip, or tongue. Your child feels his/her face and lips differently, and he/she may not be able to understand that the area is numbed. The numbness will last another 2-3 hours after we have finished working with your child. Please do not give your child any solid foods or snacks for a few hours as your child may bite or chew his/her cheeks, lip, or tongue and probably will not feel the injury. Give your child soft foods such as soup, Jell-O, ice cream, yogurt, juice, milk, milk shakes, or smoothies to maintain a soft diet.

What to do if this happens:

If your child has bitten his/her cheek, lip, or tongue, there may be swelling which may worsen over the next 2-3 days. A yellowish, white plaque (soft scab) will develop. This is part of the healing process. The lesion will heal over the next 10-14 days. If your child complains of pain, you may give him/her children's Tylenol or Advil and apply Orabase over the swollen areas.

Doctor Wang, Doctor Perea-Corkish, Doctor Gerodias and the other Doctors of Discovery Pediatric Dentistry make no warranties, expressed or implied, as to any results to be obtained from use of the information on this page. We cannot diagnose or treat patients over the Internet. Information on this site is for educational purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for personal, medical, and/or dental attention or diagnosis. Without all available information about a patient, it is impossible to make a diagnosis. Help and answers are in the form of general ideas. Only you, your dentist, and other necessary and qualified health care providers can make an appropriate treatment decision in an emergency or for everyday care and dental treatment.

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