Tongue laceration

[GraceGrape]

Any experience of a child with a severe tongue laceration? DD(7) bit all the way through her tongue yesterday (ouch). We were seen by the facial surgeon at A&E who was reluctant to suture it as it would have to be done under a general anaesthetic. So we agreed to try and let it heal naturally.

My concern now is that I cannot get her to eat or drink anything. She has had a few sips of water since yesterday after noon. Obviously it is very swollen and sore but I am trying to think of some ways to get her to take fluid. She has rejected ice lollies already. Any suggestions?

Oh golly that is difficult. Concentrate on fluids for now. Have you tried a straw?

Thanks . Yes, any success by now has been with a straw. She has indicated that she may be able to consume a Haribos lolly later so at least that's something...

My son bit his tongue very badly a few years ago, doc rang a&e and spoke to consultant who said they didn't 'do anything' unless basically hanging off. They were right - within 2 days you could barely tell where he had bitten it. I admit it doesn't sound quite as bad as your dd, but the mouth is full of things that help heal very quickly with very little chance of infection etc.

Thanks Mbear. That's encouraging to know. We saw the maxillofacial surgeon and he did say it should heal quickly but we should bring her back in if she refused to eat or drink. She won't even let me give her some calpol at the moment. She is on antibiotics which I have managed to get down her so far but it's hard work.

Grace,

Hugs to DD. They all heal but expect a rough time if no progress after 36hrs. Good luck.

This happened to me,and it did heal really quickly.she'll be fine,I doubt she'll die of thirst or starvation in the time it takes to heal.

They heal amazingly fast. Ice lollies / ice cream / cold drinks great way of getting liquid in and pain / swelling relief at the same time.

dc bit the lip as well, took a wedge out.
a&e told us to just leave it and that if would heal quickly.
they were right. dc was drinking fine (bf at the time). no ill effects, speaks well etc...

DS bit through his tongue last year - was literally hanging on by a thread either side.

We were booked to go back for suturing the next day under a GA and at the pre op check it had healed itself back together! Amazing things tongues!

He has a bit of a lisp sometimes and dribbles a bit when he's tired but I'm sure that will go with age.

He has no issues with it at all though now and it was very severe!

Thanks all. It does seem to be healing well. Can I ask if you/your DC had to take antibiotics? I just started another thread on our woes with those! DD has reacted badly to them and is vomiting them back up each time. GP thinks we should keep taking them but it's almost impossible to get her to take something that makes her sick (and if she vomits it back up, it's not doing any good anyway).

x-post Baby, that sounds awful. Glad your DS has recovered well.

DS had antibiotics but I remember he vomited with every dose too! Was told to keep on with them anyway and did just to be on the safe side

no antibiotics.
the dr said they would only give those if the toungue were impaled on something dodgy (like garden tools) or if there were signs of infection.

It was awful - he had fallen backwards off a chair at nursery and they had told me he had only bitten through his lip and so it was only when I eventually got him to stick his tongue out a couple of hours later that I saw the true damage!

He is absolutely fine now though!

This happened to me when I was 7 too, fell on the ice rink and bit right through it, losing a tooth in the ice in the process. They wouldn't/ couldn't suture it. I remember not being able to eat and drink for a couple of days, just sipped water carefully through a straw after the first day. The amount of blood was alarming though. Still remember waking up the day after my accident with blood all over my pillow