I used to get them in college a lot if I ate lots of ketchup – on other stuff, not by itself! 
So maybe there is something to the acidity angle.
I remember when I was a kid, mom had this little cannister of alum chunks in the medicine cabinet. Looked like rock candy. She would have us rub some alum on the canker sore, said it would help dry it up. It stung a little (probably similar to the salt rinse mentioned previously) but I’m not sure it ever really worked.
50/50 water and hydrogen peroxide
Keep your teeth clean
Take 500 mg lysine twice a day. (this is the best of all)
Avoid coffee while present
Yes. Switch to an SLS free toothpaste. There have been several studies that show that this will significantly reduce outbreaks. SLS is a foaming agent found in most toothpastes and shampoos. The best SLS free toothpaste IMO is made by Rembrandt. Be sure to get their SLS free version.
Haj
I should add that by “best” I did not mean that it it the most effective of all toothpastes. I meant that it is has the best taste and it’s the easiest to find.
Here is a link that takes you directly to the canker relief page at Rembrandt.
Haj
I should add that by “best” I did not mean that it it the most effective of all toothpastes. I meant that it is has the best taste and it’s the easiest to find.
Here is a link that takes you directly to the canker relief page at Rembrandt.
Haj
Hey everyone, thanks so much for all the advice. Some of the things (like not eating acidic foods and lysine) I have already tried and haven’t helped, but you’ve definately given me some great new things to try and the links are wonderful!
For more detail for you guys, I will get 7-8 canker sores every 4 or 5 weeks that will last 8-9 days. Over the counter pain relievers like anbesol don’t even touch the pain and Alum relieves the pain for only about 10 minutes. All the conventional things my doctor and dentist have suggested haven’t worked, so I really appreciate all the home remedies and personal experience you guys have provided–this is exactly what I’m looking for!
Mysterious, the best advise given is about 'prevention", so you can’t really hope for too much relief for current sores.
You should try to take care of your mouth by keeping things like acids and SLS out, and adopt some good habits mentioned to prevent/minimize outbreaks.
My mother used to get what she called canker sores but they were only on her tongue and very painful. She claimed that her doctor gave her a chicken pox vaccine in her mouth and that they never came back- but this was before the vaccine was out so I always dismissed her story as a tall tale. After reading Qadgop’s artcicle, it seems as if she was probably given a local injection of steroids, yowie! a shot in the tongue :eek: Well it worked for her, you may want to check with your doctor.
Second or third on the non-SLS toothepaste advice. Since switching to Rembrandt Purple Label(which unfortunately is more expensive), my canker sores incidents are way down.
I’ve read that Toms Of Maine toothepaste has SLS, but at a much lower amount. Might be worth a shot.
Spot on about the SLS in toothpaste. Biotene also has an SLS free toothpaste- which works better than Rembrant, IMHO. Of course, table salt & baking soda works OK and is cheap. No flouride, though. I switched, and my occurance of canker sores dropped by 90%. I still occ get one if I bite my lip by accident or something. Toms makes nice products, but there is still SLS in his toothpaste.
Lysene is a treatment for Herpes/Cold sores. I guess it couldn’t hurt for canker sores.
Try acidolpholus, either from pills or live culture yogurt. Works for me- reduces the time they stay around by at least half- and helps a lot when you get that “uh-oh, one’s coming” feeling.
Acidic drinks do seem to increase the occurance of canker sores, although vitamin C seems to help heal them.
There was a thread on this in IMHO a little while ago.
Sometimes H202 will help.
The toothpaste I switched away from when I went SLS free was Tom’s. Maybe it’s just my own body chemistry that’s zero tolerance, but take it for what it’s worth.
I have a great remedy. Pomegranate juice. Well, not really juice - more like a sour paste that you can get at any health food store. This really works - trust me.
Smoke.
I used to have a canker sore for about a week of every month. Then for the years I smoked I never got a single canker sore.
I had to quit recently because smoking was giving me heart problems. Heart is all better now, but the canker sores are back…
One final thing: Don’t ever alter your diet because of canker sores. Keep drinking OJ and all that, just wash your mouth out immediately afterwords!
Diet alteration should be a last resort.