Mouth Injuries - KATV - Breaking News, Weather and Razorback Sports

In the life of every small child, typically there's an injury or two that looks serious and bloody and scares the daylights out of parents.  When kids fall on their faces, which often happens during toddler-hood, many times they tear their frenulum.  That's the small piece of skin that hangs down between their upper lip and their gum.  Doctors say that piece of skin doesn't have a particular function, so if it does tear, even though the injury looks severe, it isn't.  Doctors say that injury usually heals quickly and rarely are there complications.  If a child does injury their frenulum the primary associated risk is infection.  If that happens, doctors say the child would develop a fat lip and the swelling would start moving into the nose and cheeks.  The mouth is a place that continually washes itself with saliva, so germs tend to get washed out.  That's why infection is rare.