Any doctors or nurses on? Or moms who's experienced deep mouth cuts?

readyin07

DS just tripped running and took a flying leap onto a table. There was a lot of blood but the bleeding stopped after maybe 5-7 minutes. After he calmed down, he was fine swishing water in his mouth and ate a popsicle (although he said that it hurt, he kept eating it). He won't really let me get in there to get a good look. There appears to be three cuts - one that is lower appears to be pretty deep to me. I know they rarely stitch up inside the mouth cuts, but how do I know when it is deep enough that it needs to be looked at?We have a playdate at 10 that I was planning on keeping and letting DS come home for his nap and trying to get a better look at it while he is asleep. Also, what should I be doing to keep it clean? We'll be eating soft, non acidy foods for a few days.

jenwill

ER nurse here....and you're right, they rarely stitch inside mouth lacerations. It really just depends on how deep it is and it's size. Often they heal on their own, but hard for me to tell you if it'll need stitches without seeing it. If it's gaping open, then I'd take him to the pedi to see what they think. GL!

queenbone

DS has had a lot of stitches unfortunately.  The one in is mouth was also on the outside because he split his lip open.  I think they only stitched it because of the possibility of a bad scar on the outside.  I can't remember if they used dissolving stitches on the inside for that one, sorry.

Sounds like it might be okay if the bleeding has subsided.  If he seems to still have a problem later on you could always go in to have it checked later.

It's no fun, I hope he feels better soon!