Heal Mouth Burns

Whether caused by biting into piping hot food or sipping a hot beverage before it cools, mouth burns happen often. Burns on your tongue, cheek, or the roof of your mouth can be painful and can make eating uncomfortable. Fortunately, there are natural home remedies to help soothe and heal mouth burns – and for severe burns, medical care is available.

Steps

Acting Immediately to Minimize Burns

  1. Swish and gargle cold water right away. Minimize mouth burns by cooling your mouth down quickly. Swish, rinse, and gargle cold water in your mouth for 5 to 10 minutes after you burn yourself.[1]
  2. Suck on ice chips. Suck on ice cubes or ice chips if you have some available. This can cool your mouth down even better than cold water. Carry a cup of ice around with you and suck on fresh ice until the stinging in your mouth subsides.[1]
    • If you burn your cheek or the roof of your mouth, try holding ice chips against the burn with your tongue.
  3. Eat a scoop of ice cream. If you have some available, eat a few spoonfuls – or a bowl! – of ice cream. The cold will soothe your burn. Kids may especially enjoy this option.[1]
    • Eating an ice pop or scoop of cold yogurt or drinking a glass of cold milk may also help improve the pain.
  4. Rinse and gargle with salt water. Dissolve half a teaspoon of salt in a glass of warm (not hot!) water. Rinse your mouth and gargle with the salt water once your mouth cools down.[1]
    • Do not swallow the salt water.

Helping the Healing Process

  1. Eat soft, cool foods for a week. Left alone, your mouth should heal itself in about a week.[1] Avoid further injury during that time. Don’t eat foods that have sharp edges, like potato chips or crispy apple slices. Allow hot foods and beverages to cool to a warm temperature before you enjoy them.
  2. Keep your foods bland until your burn heals. Enjoy mildly seasoned foods, but stay away from spicy foods and foods flavored with citrus. These can irritate the sensitive skin in your mouth while your burn is healing.[2]
  3. Use a licorice mixture. Add {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} of dried licorice root to 100 milliliters of cold water (about 4/10 of a cup). Boil the mixture and let it sit to infuse for 15 minutes. Let it cool, then strain it. Use this as a mouthwash and gargle with it as often as you like while your burn heals. Licorice can help heal inflammation and sores, and can fight off some bacteria.[1]
    • Add honey to the mixture while it’s still warm to sweeten it.
    • Alternately, try sucking on licorice tablets.
  4. Consume honey. Eat a spoonful of honey a couple of times a day to help soothe pain and promote healing. If your burn is on your cheek or the roof of your mouth, try to press the honey to the hurt area with your tongue.[3] Let the honey dissolve in your mouth.
  5. Stop using tobacco. Quit smoking – at least while your burn heals.[4] Smoking cigarettes and using other nicotine products can slow healing time. Ideally, stop smoking altogether.
  6. Avoid alcohol while your burn heals. Help speed up healing – stay away from alcoholic beverages. If you can’t stop, minimize how much alcohol you drink while your burn is healing.[4]
    • Talk to your doctor if you feel like you can’t stop drinking alcohol.
  7. Brush your teeth twice a day. Maintain good oral hygiene while your burn heals.[4] This promotes healing and helps you avoid infections. Brush your teeth twice a day as usual, in the morning and before bed. Go slowly and be careful not to scrape your burn.
  8. See a doctor if your burn doesn’t improve in two weeks. After two weeks, your mouth burn should feel much better. If it hasn’t improved by that time, see your doctor. You may need medicine to help with pain and prevent infection.[2]
  9. Seek medical care if you get a fever or can’t swallow. Mouth burns rarely cause serious health problems. However, see your doctor if you burn your mouth and then start to experience any of the following symptoms:[2]
    • Fever (a temperature of 100.4°F/38°C or higher)
    • Drooling
    • Difficulty swallowing

Alleviating Discomfort During Healing

  1. Take over-the-counter pain relievers. Take acetaminophen (Tylenol) as directed on the bottle for some pain relief. Ibuprofen (Advil) will also help, but don’t take it without talking to your doctor first if you have kidney or liver problems.
    • Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about taking OTC medicine if you have any health conditions or medication allergies.
    • Aspirin is appropriate for adults, but never give aspirin to children under age 12.[5]
  2. Apply a pain-relieving paste or gel. Check your local drug store or pharmacy for an oral pain-relieving product like Orabase or Orajel. These contain benzocaine, a numbing product that you can use in your mouth for painful sores or burns. Apply it as directed on the label or by your pharmacist.[6]
    • Do not use Orabase if you’ve ever had methemoglobinemia.
    • Do not use this product on children under 2 years old.
  3. See your doctor for prescription medication. If your pain is severe or doesn’t improve with at-home remedies, ask your doctor about topical pain medications. Some medicine used for canker sore pain might be appropriately for painful burns. This include options like the paste Aphthasol and the mouthwash Peridex.[2]

Warnings

  • Do not put regular burn ointment in your mouth – it may be toxic.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 http://www.readersdigest.co.uk/health/health-a-z/burns-scalds/burns-and-scalds-in-mouth-treatment
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003059.htm
  3. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3188068/
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 http://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-treat-a-roof-of-mouth-burn#home-treatment2
  5. ↑ http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/reyes-syndrome/basics/risk-factors/con-20020083
  6. ↑ https://www.drugs.com/mtm/orabase.html

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