Oh sweet relief. Do you ever have something that bothers you . . . say a paper cut . . . and every time you wash your hand, put on lotion, or just move your finger you are reminded of it? For days it plagues you, then one day . . . MAYBE, not even every time you realize, “Hey! My finger doesn’t hurt any longer. Hmmm. When did that happen?” But you are just so happy to be done with it it really doesn’t matter. Do you ever do anything to hasten the healing? My latest “owwie” was a cut in my mouth. OW! I love French Bread, but sometimes it cuts up my mouth. And you may have experienced a mouth cut before or a sore or something, it seems that things just keep migrating towards it and making it worse. Plus, I can’t . . . I don’t know if YOU have this problem, I can’t seem to leave it alone. I am always “examining it” with my tongue. “Is the cut still ther—–owww! Yup! Still there.” My goal is to make it go away as fast as I can. Silly me, that doesn’t necessarily mean I stop eating what did it in the first place, but that does mean I will take other measures to heal it. It needs to be sterilized.
First of all you know that the mouth is host to a consortium of bacteria. Some of the bacteria aid in digestion. Some bacteria protect our teeth and gums. Some cause bad breath and even tooth decay and gum disease. But no matter what, the environment as a whole is not an easy place for sores and cuts to heal. I know there are people who pull oil which is a more holistic way to oral health. There are also some who might employ the use of essential oils. I am not at that point with my essential oil use. What I do works for me. It might gross some people out. I haven’t told my husband, but when I was doing it I kept thinking, “Oh, he would be so grossed out.” But I know that it helped clean the cut and I believe it helped it heal faster and therefore bringing relief faster.
I use something most of us have in our medicine cabinet. Plain and simple rubbing alcohol. I don’t gargle with it. I simply put it on a q-tip and then put the alcohol on the cut. The reason I am posting about this is because just yesterday I realized that I didn’t need to do that as I was getting ready to leave. So it was one of those times when I did it for a two days and then I didn’t need to do it any longer. I also use mouthwash. If you want to help a cut heal don’t use the sugary types of mouthwash it needs to be LISTERINE®. I prefer the green kind, but the gold is even stronger.
I do remember my husband having a cut in his mouth from — French Bread — and I told him to gargle and he had some syrupy type of mouthwash and I told him that it needed to be the kind that makes your mouth tingle and I let him use mine. But then when he talked to his oral hygienist and she confirmed my instruction he went out and bought the gold kind. Yeowza.
So for me, when I cut my mouth or bite my cheek to help my body heal it fast I use rubbing alcohol and strong mouthwash. The rubbing alcohol does not taste good, but I would rather suffer that taste for a minute and heal the cut faster than have that pain in my mouth. And if you gargle right after it helps take the taste away. I have also used Sea Breeze® in my mouth? Do you know what that is? It is an astringent I used to use to clean my face. Now I use it for bites and cuts.
So there you have my little helpful tip. What do you do when you cut your mouth? Do you just let it go away on its own? Does your tongue constantly bother it? Share with us your household helpful tip.
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