Dealing with a Tongue Bite: Pain Relief & Healing Tips

Question
During one overeager meal, I bit my tongue deep enough to draw blood and leave a lingering gash.  Though I'm hoping it will heal eventually, unfortunately at present, just the acts of eating and drinking has been real punishment these past few days.  Even drinking water is agony.  Is there anything I can to expedite the healing process (I really do have to get back to eating) or barring that, just to soothe the pain?  I thank you for your help.

Answer
We don't sew tongue lacerations unless it is very deep or a piece is hanging off.  Icing the area down, by sucking an ice cube for 5 minutes will help as well as standard pain meds, like 2 alleve or 4 advil or some tylenol.  The tongue tissue is good, in that it heals very quickly.

Hope this helps....