Recommended Tests

Alright.. here is what I am working on now.. I am pulling content from a data base..  then the backend is able to edit the content.. the problem becomes when you want a paragraph.. 

I am storing it as a text with 10,000 character limit in a mysql 5 db..   So.. the question.. what is the best way to identify where <p> tags should be places?  Could I do this with php?  I would prefer relying on the user having to enter <p> </p> into the database for it to work.