Lip sucking
👆🏻Now that sucks! 🤐
CC: “My child’s lip is swollen!”
Dx: self-inflicted lip trauma following dental procedure with local anesthesia
Tx: monitor, palliative care (pain medication, petroleum jelly)
🔑: One of the most common post-operative complication to dental procedures with local anesthesia is lip sucking and biting. The appearance can be very troubling and may be mistaken for an infection, the trauma is fortunately self-limiting and generally heals without scarring or complications. Once the local anesthesia wears off, the child would know to avoid repeat trauma. Typically, I recommend using acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain management and using petroleum jelly as a protective layer.
The key is prevention. Remember to remind parents to keep an eye on the child until the local anesthesia wears off. If I see the child already beginning to traumatize their numb lip in the chair prior to discharge, I give them a rolled-up 4x4 gauze for them to bite on with their anterior teeth (as if they had an extraction). I find that if I tell the child to bite on the gauze, they would be less likely to bite or suck their lip.
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