Burned Your Mouth? Here's How To Fix That

We've all been there: We take a sip of coffee, a spoonful of soup, or a bite of pizza before giving them a chance to cool, and before we know it our mouth is burned and we're cursing to high heaven. What's the best way to prevent mouth burns, and what are the best ways to treat them once the damage is done?

The first part is the easiest: Instead of going right for a hot drink or a bite of steaming food, give it a couple minutes to cool; blowing on it also helps. If you absolutely can't wait, take a small sip or bite, which will do less damage.

If you burn your mouth, the first thing you should do, according to Everyday Health, is reach for something cold, like an ice cube or ice pop, which can help to dull the pain of the burn. Then drink some milk, which can help to coat the area. If you happen to have some vitamin E around, squeezing a capsule of that onto the burn can help to regenerate the skin as well. Then you'll want to take some Advil or Tylenol, and apply an oral pain reliever like Orajel, Anbesol, or Orabase (which are all essentially the same thing, 20 percent benzocaine) to the burned area.

Mouth burns tend to heal themselves rather quickly, but until it heals you'll probably want to avoid foods that can irritate the burn, including spicy, citrus-based, or especially crunchy foods. You'll be back to drinking boiling hot coffee in no time at all!