First Aid for an Injured Tongue

Biting your tongue while chewing gum or eating food rarely causes significant harm. Unfortunately, there are rare instances when an accident, blow to the face or sports injury can result in a significant tongue injury. For these times Dr. Gilbert Fernandez offers a few essential first aid tips for taking care of an injured tongue.

It’s important to get a clear understanding of how significant your tongue injury is. If you have blood or debris in your mouth you can rinse it away with lukewarm salt water.

If your tongue is bleeding excessively, or if you’ve somehow bitten through it, then you should probably seek care in an emergency room or urgent care clinic.

If your tongue is bleeding, you could try to control the bleeding by wrapping it in a few layers of sterile gauze and applying light pressure. If you can’t easily hold the gauze with fingers, you might be able to press the injured part of your tongue to the roof of your mouth.

If the bleeding continues for more than twenty minutes or you find that the pain is getting worse, you should strongly consider going to the emergency room or urgent care facility to seek further treatment.

If you would like more tips on how to provide basic first aid for oral injuries, you can always call Gilbert Fernandez, DDS, Inc. in Albuquerque, New Mexico at 505-898-8063 to set up a consultation session.