Best home remedies for biting the inside of your cheek/tongue?
July 4, 2013 9:54 AM Subscribe
There is nothing worse than waking up having chewed up the side of your tongue, or inside of your cheek because it gets all swollen. And it leads to a tendency to re-bite it during the day, and make it worse.
What are the best remedies to use, in a pinch, to make the swelling go away?
Press ground aspirin into the bite? Ibuprofen taken orally?
posted by kitcat at 10:03 AM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by kitcat at 10:03 AM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
I rinse with either cool chamomile tea or about half a teaspoon of baking soda dissolved in about a cup of water.
posted by corey flood at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by corey flood at 10:22 AM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Chlorhexidine mouthwash reduces the swelling and numbs the pain - I use Corsodyl, but that might be UK-only.
posted by inire at 10:42 AM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by inire at 10:42 AM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
You (or at least I) can't stop chewing for more than a few minutes. As soon as my attention wanders, I'm at it again.
I carry a pencil or a thin plastic ball-point pen to lay across behind my front teeth when I read or drive, to protect my tongue and cheeks. A pencil should be at least 2/3 of its length when new. Otherwise you can inhale it and choke to death.
My dentist says it's worse when you sleep. The jaw muscles are the most powerful in the body, and you can easily grind your molars down until they have to be pulled. He says the warning sign is a callus line on the inside of your cheeks from the back to the front where your upper and lower teeth meet.
The solution for sleeping is a night guard. Your dentist makes a reverse mold in quick-setting silicone, makes a plaster reverse cast and then makes a guard of medium-soft plastic that fits over your upper teeth. It takes a few nights to get used to it, but for me it cures the problem. It's not cheap -- $200 and up from most dentists. It's maybe 1/3 the size of a custom-molded athletic mouth guard and fits over only the upper teeth. A night guard lasts 6-10 months, but a new one can be made fairly cheaply from an existing plaster piece. I have my dentist make two or three each time he takes an impression. Some people have a night guard made for their lower teeth, but that didn't work for me.
I've tried the mold-it-yourself athletic guards from the drug and sporting goods stores, but they don't hold up. Also, to work right, the guard needs professional fitting.
I prefer my night guard to be very thin but YMMV.
posted by KRS at 10:56 AM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
I carry a pencil or a thin plastic ball-point pen to lay across behind my front teeth when I read or drive, to protect my tongue and cheeks. A pencil should be at least 2/3 of its length when new. Otherwise you can inhale it and choke to death.
My dentist says it's worse when you sleep. The jaw muscles are the most powerful in the body, and you can easily grind your molars down until they have to be pulled. He says the warning sign is a callus line on the inside of your cheeks from the back to the front where your upper and lower teeth meet.
The solution for sleeping is a night guard. Your dentist makes a reverse mold in quick-setting silicone, makes a plaster reverse cast and then makes a guard of medium-soft plastic that fits over your upper teeth. It takes a few nights to get used to it, but for me it cures the problem. It's not cheap -- $200 and up from most dentists. It's maybe 1/3 the size of a custom-molded athletic mouth guard and fits over only the upper teeth. A night guard lasts 6-10 months, but a new one can be made fairly cheaply from an existing plaster piece. I have my dentist make two or three each time he takes an impression. Some people have a night guard made for their lower teeth, but that didn't work for me.
I've tried the mold-it-yourself athletic guards from the drug and sporting goods stores, but they don't hold up. Also, to work right, the guard needs professional fitting.
I prefer my night guard to be very thin but YMMV.
posted by KRS at 10:56 AM on July 4, 2013 [2 favorites]
Ground cloves in tea helps for swollen gums, so it might help for this.
posted by limeonaire at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by limeonaire at 10:59 AM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
I used salt water for this very thing just a few days ago - helped tremendously.
posted by 41swans at 12:42 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by 41swans at 12:42 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Try a dab of vanilla extract.
posted by juliplease at 4:09 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by juliplease at 4:09 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Tea tree oil mouthwash.
posted by brujita at 4:30 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by brujita at 4:30 PM on July 4, 2013 [1 favorite]
Peroxide in the mouth is really disgusting-tasting, but boy does it help things heal faster.
Part of the problem with little barely-nicked-it injuries in the mouth is that you get little bits of digestible sugars into the gap, and then your saliva gets in there and digests it, and you've got a little chemical farm that opens up a mouth ulcer. So it helps to clean it out - dip a q-tip in peroxide and swab some on the injury. Inevitably you'll taste some of it, which is yukky, but it'll foam up a bit, which is very satisfying. Peroxide is also toxic in quantity, but the drugstore version is diluted to 3%, and you're only swabbing a q-tip's worth, so no big deal... but I wouldn't swish an ounce around like mouthwash. Salt-water rinses are a less-disgusting but less-satisfying option.
posted by aimedwander at 7:14 AM on July 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
Part of the problem with little barely-nicked-it injuries in the mouth is that you get little bits of digestible sugars into the gap, and then your saliva gets in there and digests it, and you've got a little chemical farm that opens up a mouth ulcer. So it helps to clean it out - dip a q-tip in peroxide and swab some on the injury. Inevitably you'll taste some of it, which is yukky, but it'll foam up a bit, which is very satisfying. Peroxide is also toxic in quantity, but the drugstore version is diluted to 3%, and you're only swabbing a q-tip's worth, so no big deal... but I wouldn't swish an ounce around like mouthwash. Salt-water rinses are a less-disgusting but less-satisfying option.
posted by aimedwander at 7:14 AM on July 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
Sounds crazy but try using a pacifier
posted by profiledefenders at 1:23 PM on July 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by profiledefenders at 1:23 PM on July 5, 2013 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by These Birds of a Feather at 9:56 AM on July 4, 2013 [3 favorites]