Your tongue is arguably the most agile part of your mouth. It plays a wide variety of roles in your basic oral function. When chewing it helps move food material in your mouth to be broken down efficiently for safe swallowing. Your tongue is also used to help make a variety of sounds when you speak and is sometimes involved in certain facial expressions.
All this mobility also means that the tongue can sometimes get in the way when you open and close your mouth or chew food. In most of these instances the edge of the tongue might suffer a minor nip that proves to be little more than a nuisance.
However, there are sometimes when the individual bumps their head or suffers a fall, where the lower jaw clenches causing you to bite down hard on the tongue. In some of these cases you may need to apply some simple first aid while you seek professional treatment from a doctor like Dr. William Wilson.
If you have lingering blood in your mouth, a gentle lukewarm saltwater rinse can often help wash it away. This might also provide you with a clear view of the tongue. If your tongue continues to bleed, you might want to try lightly packing it with sterile gauze and apply a light amount of pressure.
Initial discomfort might be managed by consuming a standard dose of an over the counter pain medication or by lightly rubbing a small amount of topical oral analgesic on the area.
Once you arrive at Chicago Osteopathic Hospital Dental Clinic PC our doctor can quickly diagnose the severity of your tongue injury and other oral tissues as a necessary first step in developing an effective treatment plan.
If you are in the Chicago, Illinois, area and you have recently suffered a serious tongue injury you should call 773-947-4665 to seek treatment from one of our skilled dentists, Drs. William Wilson, Gary Wegmann, and Daniel Choo.