After the Filling: Caring for Your Child at Home After Dental Treatment
"She was fine in the chair, but in the car she kept saying her lip felt fat and funny." The appointment is over, but the next few hours at home matter too. A little preparation helps your child stay comfortable and avoids the most common problem after dental treatment: an accidental bite on a numb lip.
The numb feeling
If your child had local anaesthetic, the lip, cheek or tongue on that side usually stays numb for about one to three hours, sometimes a little longer. Many young children want to touch, suck or chew the strange-feeling area to "test" it.
That is where the problem starts. Because they cannot feel it, children can bite or chew the lip or cheek quite hard without noticing. Later that day or the next morning, parents often see a swollen lip with a white or yellowish sore. It can look alarming, but it is usually a lip-bite injury and normally heals on its own within a week or so.
To prevent it:
- Watch your child closely until the feeling comes back fully.
- Gently remind them not to bite, suck or poke the numb area.
- Keep them busy with a calm activity, such as a story or a cartoon.
- Hold off on food until the numbness wears off. Water is fine. Avoid hot drinks, which can burn a lip they cannot feel.
If a lip-bite sore appears, keep it clean, offer soft food and give pain relief if needed.
After a filling or crown
Once the numbness has gone, your child can usually eat normally. Choose softer foods for the rest of the day if the area feels tender. Mild sensitivity to cold, or a sore gum around a new crown, is common for a few days and normally settles by itself.
Keep brushing as usual. If the bite feels "high" after a day, or a filling feels rough or broken, tell your dentist.
After a tooth is taken out
An extraction needs a little more care in the first 24 hours, because a blood clot forms in the socket and helps it heal.
- Bite on the gauze. Your child should bite firmly on the gauze pad for the time your dentist advises, usually around 20 to 30 minutes. Some oozing or pink saliva for the rest of the day is normal.
- No spitting, rinsing or straws on the first day. These can disturb the clot and start the bleeding again.
- Soft, cool foods. Yoghurt, laban, lukewarm soup, mashed potato and soft rice work well. Avoid crunchy, very hot or spicy food.
- Keep brushing, gently near the socket, and chew on the other side for a day or two.
- Quiet play for the rest of the day.
If bleeding starts again, fold a clean piece of gauze, place it over the socket and have your child bite firmly for about 20 to 30 minutes without checking.
Pain relief
Most children feel only mild soreness after treatment. If needed, use a children's pain reliever such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, at the dose your dentist, doctor or pharmacist advises for your child's age and weight. Do not give aspirin to children, and do not put tablets or gels directly on the gum.
When to call the dentist
Contact your dentist if you notice:
- Swelling of the face or gum that is getting bigger
- Fever, or your child seems unwell
- Bleeding that won't stop after two rounds of firm pressure with gauze
- Pain that is getting worse after the second or third day, rather than better
- A lip-bite sore that looks increasingly red, swollen or painful
Swelling of the face with fever, or swelling that affects the eye, breathing or swallowing, needs urgent medical care.
Questions about your child's teeth?
Every child is different — it is always better to ask than to worry.
This article is general information and does not replace an examination by a dentist or doctor.