Were you baking something in the oven when you accidentally burned one of your fingers? You may have been trying to pull the baking pan out of the oven while holding a dish towel in your hand, but the dish towel slipped and one of your fingers touched the bottom of the baking pan, causing immediate and excruciating pain. Now that you've burned your finger, you'll need to know what to do and what not to do to get relief.

Don't Use Ice

While your natural instinct may be to place your finger in a bowl or a bag of ice, it's not a great idea. Ice has the potential to cause some serious damage to your tissue. Instead of grabbing the ice, which would take you a few extra minutes, simply turn the faucet on, fill a container with cold water, and place your entire hand into the container. The cold water will provide some temporary relief.

Don't Use Toothpaste 

Some people swear by using toothpaste on a burn, but this isn't a good idea. You may not know how severe the burn on your finger is and it could be a lot worse than you've realized. Applying a mint toothpaste could end up causing you more of a stinging and severe pain than giving you the relief you were hoping to achieve by applying it in the first place.

Do Take a Trip to Urgent Care

Instead of wasting time on remedies that aren't ideal, take a quick trip to the local urgent care center to have your finger evaluated by medical professionals. The medical professionals will let you know the severity of the burn – whether it's a first, second, or third-degree burn. One of the medical staff members may ease your pain by applying a topical ointment, such as lidocaine.

When applied to a finger, lidocaine will numb the area to keep you from continuing to feel the pain associated with the burn. You'll find out if you need to get a tetanus shot based on the severity of your burn and you can have it carefully wrapped up by one of the trained nurses while you're there. If the burn is quite severe, you may receive a prescription for a topical burn ointment or oral pain reliever to help ease the pain you're feeling.

If you've just burned your finger, there are some things you shouldn't do and some things you should do. Don't put your hand in ice and don't use toothpaste as a home remedy for the pain. Instead, place your entire hand into a bowl of cold water and head over to the urgent care center for professional treatment for the burn on your finger.