A couple of weeks ago my dentist filled a few cavities and sent me home with the lower left side of my mouth asleep. I walked in the door starving. Common sense said wait for the numbness to wear off. My stomach disagreed, and my stomach won.

Somewhere in that meal I bit down hard on the inside of my lower lip. I felt nothing. I only found the cut later, once the numbness faded.

It has nagged me ever since. It stings when I talk, and it stings when I sip water. I’ve tried the numbing gels made for exactly this. They help for a while, but the cut sits right against my bottom teeth, and my teeth graze it all day long.