First-Aid Tips to Help Take Care of an Injured Lip

Accidentally biting your lip while eating or chewing gum is relatively common. There are a few rare incidents when an accident, blow to the face or sports injury can seriously harm your lip.

Your dentist, Dr. Kenneth Pollary, offers a few essential first-aid tips that help you take care of an injured lip.

Please note that a severe lip injury that involves excessive bleeding likely warrants a direct trip to the emergency room.

It’s important to assess the severity of the lip injury. If you have blood crusted on your lip, you can use a wet washcloth that is soaked with warm water to gently wipe it away. Any blood or debris in your mouth can also be rinsed away with lukewarm saltwater.

If your lip starts to swell, you can try holding a cold compress to the area for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. You can improvise a cold compress by placing crushed ice in a zip-top bag that is wrapped in a washcloth or tea towel. In a pinch, you could use a bag of frozen vegetables.

If your injured lip continues to bleed, you can try to control the bleeding by holding some sterile gauze to the wound. If the bleeding hasn’t stopped after 20 minutes, it usually means that the wound will require further treatment and it warrants a trip to the emergency room.

If you would like more tips on how to handle an injured lip or other oral emergency in Colorado Springs, Colorado, you can call Pollary Family Dentistry at 719-591-0750 for a consultation.