When does a busted lip need attention?
 

I went over the bars yesterday evening and broke my fall with my mouth. My face is now horrendous looking - I can't close my mouth totally because the upper lip is so swollen with a nasty cut in front of my left front tooth on the inside of the lip. The tooth feels slightly displaced and the cut is about 1/4 inch wide, I think mostly due to the excessive swelling right now. It looks like the cut won't really be able to close until the swelling goes down. I've done a few good peroxide rinses and had some ice on for the first couple hours.

The problem: no insurance - its now early Sunday morning and the cut's been weeping blood and clear-yellow gunk all night. I plan on going to the clinic at my school on Monday, but how do you know if it needs stitches or immediate attention? I was pretty concussed as I wasn't wearing a helmet, but now that I'm back to my senses, I'm freaked about my nasty face but don't have the cash or patience for the ER. At what point do I decide to suck it up and go anyways, or wait till Monday? I'm sure more than a couple of you have been here before...

Had plenty of inside mouth cuts and they do heal on their own. Takes about a week before the swelling goes down and about a month before the pain stops. Keep mouthwashes going and get used to soup.

This is said- not knowing how serious the cut is- but I used to be a boxer and just got used to the pain.

Since you weren't wearing a helmet and fell on your face (head) I'd say suck it up and go right away. I'm pretty sure your able to make a claim on your parents health insurance while you're still in school. Call Mom and Dad and find out. I'm sure they'd be willing to cover the deductible for a piece of mind (or yours).

I'm 25 and have unfortunately been off the parents' insurance for a couple years - thank God I didn't break anything. I'm not too worried about my head, as I've already slept and feel OK still.

stapfam- what's your rinse of choice? And do you know of anything that forms a layer and stops the bleeding? I've heard of something like this but can't recall the name. The cut BTW is about 1/4 inch deep, 1/4 inch wide and 1/2 inch long, from what I can tell.

your probably already past the point of bring able to get stitches there is a time window of 6 hours if I remember correctly

If your tooth is loose, you need to see a dentist immediately, even if it is a sunday. You could lose the tooth, but immediate attention (may already be too late) could save it.

Yep, the tooth needs attention. As for the cut, about a year ago I took a bad fall (face first) and my tooth nearly tore through my upper lip. I had a huge gash, very deep and about and inch long. I went to the ER because of that, and the doc said it will heal itself. They would have stitched it only if it went through my skin.

I hope you heal up fast, and wear a helmet from now on. Consider yourself lucky. It saved my life when I went down.

Yeah, a helmet would have gone a long way...I guess in a way I'm lucky I went mouth first rather than brain first. I'm not sure about the tooth - it's not "loose" per se, but pushed back a little, probably not too far, but I can feel a difference in my bite, and can put pressure on it to get it back where it was, or close to it, but it just slowly goes back when I take the pressure off it. But it doesn't feel really loose - it's definitely more painful than the cut right now though.