I have the worst canker sore I’ve ever had on the inside of my mouth. It’s been really bad for 3 days, and I’m having a hard time eating and talking. Besides avoiding sugar, is there anything I can do to help it along? Will a Chloraseptic or Cepacol lozenge hurt it?
I had a pretty nasty one a few weeks ago. My method is to (get ready to cringe) risne with listerine. Yes, it hurts like Hell while I’m doing it, but eventually, it almost seems like the pain receptors get “overloaded”, and then it doesn’t hurt any more, and remains fairly numb for a few hours.
How about an oral analgesic like Ambesol?
I do this as well. I get really nasty sores every few weeks or so, and the only way I get relief is to use Listerine. Make sure it’s the old fashioned Cool Mint flavor, and rinse for AT LEAST 30 seconds. Like bouv said, it hurts like Hell, but SUCK IT UP because it will feel better after. I ususally get a small hip-flask sized bottle and carry it around in my back pocket when I have a bad sore.
–FCOD
Put a wet asprin on it. 30 seconds of mind numbing pain, then it’s blessed relief.
Try Colgate Orabase Soothe-N-Seal, available at any major drugstore. It’s crazy glue for your mouth (follow directions!) that forms a seal over the sore. I had a canker sore on the palate, right behind the teeth, that made talkinng and eating difficult. On vacation. This stuff works. I want to kiss the person who thought of marketing it.
Do not use Kanka. I cannot emphasize that enough. It burns with the fire of a thousand suns.
What I do is first rinse with hydrogen peroxide; then apply Orabase-B (not Orabase-A).
This won’t help you now but if you are a chronic sufferer, changing toothpaste will likely help. Get a toothpaste that doesn’t have sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) as one of the ingredients. SLS is a foaming agent (detergent) that is mildly caustic.
Rembrandt makes an SLS free toothpaste that I use. Another one is Biotene.
If you go to the doctor, he will probably prescribe Valtrex, which should decrease the duration and severity of the cold sore. If you are prone to recurrent ones then you could be put on the medication chronically. It is the same stuff advertised on television for genital herpes, but works just fine on any herpes caused sore.
I just rub salt into mine and they usually dissappear within the day. It hurts like a mofo, but it works.
PS - dauerbach - canker sores are different than cold sores, and not typically caused by the herpes virus.
This stuff really works. In fact, I came in this thread intending to recommend it. It provides relief AND speeds healing.
Yes- Biotene. Great stuff.
Probiotics (the “live culture” in “live culture yogurt”) will help cure those nasty little buggers. Or if you hate yogurt, buy the pills- any health food store.
Valtrax is for Cold Sores, that is to say Herpes or HSV1. Canker sores are not cold sores. Cold sores are large nasty itchy things on the outside of your lip. Canker sores are smaller, white, and on the inside of your mouth
More remedies:
http://www.pitt.edu/~cjm6/s98canker.html
*According to Dr. Roy S. Rogers III, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., canker sores are small shallow ulcers which occur inside the mouth, on the tongue, inside the cheek or anywhere on the oral mucosa. As many as 20% of all Americans encounter this malady in their lifetime. The cause is elusive, and it is thought that stress or injury to the oral mucosa may be related factors. Whatever the cause, canker sores are not viral and are not contagious. Most sources seem to agree that canker sores are often precipitated by eating foods which are spicy and acidic, such as citrus fruits, tomatoes, and particularly Mexican and Southwestern cuisine. *
http://www.houstondentisttx.com/Newsletter/ASoreSubject/tabid/78/Default.aspx
*Canker sores and core sores are common yet annoying mouth irritations that are often confused with one another.
Cold sores, often called fever blisters, are highly contagious lip sores initially caused by the herpes simplex virus. The virus remains in the body to produce future outbreaks as a reaction to stress, illness, injury or sunlight. The first sign of a cold sore is usually a tingling sensation around the mouth. The blisters typically burst and scab over, usually healing in about a week.
Canker sores appear not on the lips but rather inside the mouth, presenting as small ulcers with a white or gray base and a red border. Unlike cold sores, they are not contagious and their exact cause is not known. Cankers can be triggered by fatigue, stress, allergies or intestinal problems in some people. If you bite or cut your cheek or tongue, or burn the inside of your mouth with food, you could also increase the likelihood of developing a canker sore. Some foods could trigger canker sores in certain cases - so make sure you note what you’ve eaten each time you suffer an outbreak of canker sores to see if there’s a pattern.*
http://dentistry.ouhsc.edu/intranet-Web/ContEd/OPCE/aaHomeOPCE.html
*Recurrent oral ulcerations are usually either canker sores (aphthous ulcers) or cold sores/fever blisters (recurrent herpes labials). For years these two entities have been frequently confused because they have very similar clinical characteristics. They both last seven to fourteen days; have a history of recurrence; and have similar triggering factors such as stress, mechanical irritation, and illness. In a throw away dental journal, a number of years ago, there was a picture on the cover similar to Figure 1. It was titled Vitamin E: an Effective Treatment for Herpes. Whether vitamin E was effective or not was a mute point, because the illustration they showed was not that of a recurrent herpetic lesion, but rather an aphthous ulcer. It is important to distinguish recurrent aphthous stomatitis from recurrent herpes since they have different etiologies and therefore different treatments. By the end of this unit you will be able to distinguish between the two disease processes and provide the most appropriate and effective treatment. * …recurrent discrete areas of ulceration which are almost always painful. They are usually small, but can, in rare cases, become fairly large. They generally start as an erythematous papule, which soon undergoes necrosis and acquires a fibrin coating. The small, crateriform ulcers have a white to yellow membrane surrounded by a erythematous halo. Most aphthous ulcers heal in one to two weeks. Patients usually complain of these lesions being very painful and interfering with eating.
A cold sore is not herpes. A cold sore is found inside the mouth, not on the lips or surronding area, and is not caused by a virus, but by some kind of externam irritant. They are essentially small mouth ulcers.
I used to get these all the time as a child. My mother used to put a Milk of Magnesia tablet on it and it would counteract the acid in the ulcer. I have seen those kinds of tablets in a long time, but have had success as an adult with a sliver of any antacid. You just put it right on the sore and let it dissolve. You may have to do a couple of applications, but believe me - it sucks the acid right out.
Wow, thanks for all the advice! I don’t get these things all that often, so I don’t think I’ll switch toothpastes. You’re not kidding that Listerine hurts like the dickens, I tried that last night and OW! I didn’t hang on long enough to get the anesthetic effect.
I think I’ll try that super-glue stuff. Off to the drugstore!
I used to get canker sores all the time as a child, only we called them ulcers. My mother used to put a Milk of Magnesia tablet on it and it would counteract the acid in the ulcer. I haven’t seen those kinds of tablets in a long time, but have had success as an adult with a sliver of any antacid. You just put it right on the sore and let it dissolve. You may have to do a couple of applications, but believe me - it sucks the acid right out.
I used to get canker sores all the time as a child, only we called them ulcers. My mother used to put a Milk of Magnesia tablet on it and it would counteract the acid in the ulcer. I haven’t seen those kinds of tablets in a long time, but have had success as an adult with a sliver of any antacid. You just put it right on the sore and let it dissolve. You may have to do a couple of applications, but believe me - it sucks the acid right out and it doesn’t hurt one bit.
Time out on the pile-on on dauerbach.
First of all - we’re all clear that canker sores and cold sores are different. Cold sores are caused by the herpes virus and they occur on the outside of the mouth. The cause of canker sores is harder to identify, but things like certain foods, sleep deprviation and stress can contribute to their development. Moreover, they only occur inside the mouth.
That said, dauerbach is CORRECT in that doctors will prescribe Valtrex to alleviate the symptoms of canker sores. It can be used in a large dose at the onset of symptoms, or used in smaller doses for preventative care. If you care to google, “valtrex canker sore” - the first link will give you some information.
Any of our doctor Dopers care to weigh in on this?
Hmm, and I always thought they were one and the same. Now I know different.
Folk remedy due to my parents is tomato juice, Hold it in your mouth on the sore as long as you can stand it before swallowing.
Lowers the pH in your mouth, and provides vitamin C. Also burns like hell on the sore.
As a very active boy with braces, I used to get lots of sores. Had lots of opportunity to test this, and they did seem to heal faster if I Cowboy’d up and took the pain of the tomato juice.
I’m guessing V8 would do just as well, but avoid the spicy hot variation, and probably Bloody Mary mix as well. I know that putting tobasco sauce in the TJ made it burn more…At our house we always added salt and tobasco sauce to tomato juice.
Yes, dauerbach was right for the wrong reasons. Valtrex has just been approved for use on canker sores.
Which is a good site except that they repeat the error that Tom’s of Maine toothpaste is SLS-free. It is NOT.