6 ms·

As someone who occasionally suffers from canker sores, I wish it were true that they'd heal faster than say a paper cut.

by goda90 9y ago

url00 9y ago
I'll just chime in as someone who used to get them all the time with what worked for me. Mouthwash, specifically Listerine. As long as I use it everyday I never get canker sores anymore.
0xcafecafe 9y ago
Exactly. They always seem much more painful than say a cut on your arm. I still don't know what is the underlying "mechanism" of a canker sore/mouth ulcer. Why do physiological conditions manifest as a "wound" in a random area of the mouth?
- et-al 9y ago
  If you're open to alternatie medicine, traditional Chinese medicine (and probably ayurvedic medicine) splits food into hot/cold groups that affect your body's balance. My personal armchair doctor explanation is that the inside of the mouth experiences a lot of small cuts, but our immune system takes care of those before they turn into larger wounds. When your immune system is weaker, or your mouth is drier, then those small wounds open into larger ones.
neolefty 9y ago
Consider food allergies -- I used to suffer from canker sores and then accidentally stopped drinking milk for 6 months (moved to a place where it wasn't available) and voila they disappeared! (I didn't actually notice that they had disappeared until I returned to milk-land, and they came back. Took another month or so to establish the link clearly, since there was 3-4 day delay between drinking milk and appearance of canker sores. Then it took another couple of years to alter my habits ...)
- Cerium 9y ago
  Great point. I have found that if I eat fresh uncooked pineapple then a similar few days later I get one. Sure can take a while to make the connection.
  - IntronExon 9y ago
    Well that’s interesting... could it be the bromelain? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelain https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelain It seems likely, although you could test the theory by eating some raw papaya.
- derefr 9y ago
  It's not so much that you were drinking milk, as that you were drinking milk to answer thirst—i.e., you were drinking milk when dehydrated. When you're dehydrated, the mucous membranes of your mouth and throat and sinuses become highly absorbent to any fluid that passes by. If there are things dissolved in solution in that fluid, they'll get absorbed into your mucous membranes too, and stick around for quite a while (either until you drink something else; until you exercise or take in a sauna, and sort of "sweat internally", purging said membranes; or until your lymphatic system slowly flushes the contents of your interstitial fluid out to your liver.) To talk about canker sores, I first have to talk about dental plaque. Plaque appears when both of these conditions are true: 1. your mucous membranes are saturated with nutrients (such as those in milk, or juice, or soda, or "saucy" foods) amenable to the growth of bacterial biofilms; and 2. you are dehydrated enough—or under the chronic effects of diuretics such as caffeine—such that you don't consistently produce enough saliva to reach the mucous membrane and battle the nascent bacterial colony. (That's right: plaque may live on your teeth, but the food those bacteria consume mostly isn't food stuck to/between your teeth; it's food "in" the mucous membranes of your lips. This is why the regrowth speed of plaque seems to have no correlation to how well you've brushed your teeth—the factor is how much food they have access to, and brushing your teeth has no effect on the nutritive content of your mucous membranes.) Canker sores, then, happen when an established plaque (bacterial biofilm) colony is pressed into a dehydrated mucous membrane, further isolating it from the reach of saliva, for an extended period. Picture, say, a dirty tooth pressed against your lower/upper lip as you sleep, with your face laying to squeeze that part of your lip around the tooth, such that saliva can't get in. So, ways to avoid the problem: 1. brush your teeth at night (i.e. after you stop eating food.) It's more important than brushing in the morning, if you want to prevent canker sores. 2. If you're dehydrated, drink water or another substance that contains few bacteria-promoting nutrients (like unsweetened flavoured carbonated water, or even hard liquor.) If you can't—if only milk/juice/soda/beer/coolers are being served—then try to "chase" your drink with water as soon as possible. When you do, swish some of the water in your mouth as if it was a mouthwash. Ensure your mucous membranes themselves are getting hydrated. 3. Get enough vitamin C. Subclinical hypovitaminosis C ("pre-scurvy") causes the linings of your mucous membranes to weaken, making it easier for rough spots on your teeth to cause micro-abrasions in them, which is where bacterial biofilms get in. But make sure you're not "getting enough vitamin C" by drinking orange juice when you're dehydrated!
trevyn 9y ago
FYI, there’s an easy chemical cauterizer called Debacterol that’s basically a magic bullet for canker sores — after application, the pain is completely gone until it’s healed.
- zackbloom 9y ago
  Bee Propalis has worked spectacularly for me, and you can buy it for this purpose on Amazon.
762236 9y ago
Sometimes these are related to acid reflux. In my case I eliminated them by switching to a diet (earlier, medicine) to treat acid reflux. Quite a relief.
- coliveira 9y ago
  What diet do you use to treat acid reflux? I am taking pills, but want to avoid it.
  - naasking 9y ago
    Avoiding or reducing acidic foods, like tomatoes, citrus fruits, coffee, alcohol, sodas (due to carbonic acid). There are comprehensive lists online.
  - 762236 9y ago
    Something interesting: once acid escapes from the stomach into the esophagus, pepsin also escapes and lodges in your esophagus. It activates on foods lower than pH 5, thus digesting in your esophagus. Since it is an enzyme, it is reusable. I've been following the diet in the Acid Watcher Diet book, which keeps you on foods with a pH level higher than 5, for this reason and others. It has helped a lot, and I don't use a PPI, but I'll still often use an H2 blocker. A claim of the book is that you'll start healing and won't need to follow the diet so aggressively after a while. I believe that this applies to me too.
    - klipt 9y ago
      Pepsin denatures (is permanently destroyed) in a sufficiently alkaline pH, so you could also just drink some water with baking soda mixed in. Say half a teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of water might do the trick. Personally I found my worst heartburn was at night, so sleeping with a wedge pillow stopped me from needing pills. (Disclaimer: I am not a doctor.)
e40 9y ago
I 100% solved my canker sore problem when I stopped using toothpaste. Apparently it is the Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in it that causes them in some people. Give it a try. Can't hurt.
- jms 9y ago
  You can get SLS free toothpaste. Unfortunately the tubes I've found are also flouride free, and they have Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate in them, which I assume is similar to Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. SLS is only used to make foam when you brush your teeth. I promise I won't think any less of your toothpaste if it doesn't foam!
  - fencepost 9y ago
    You might take a look at some of the Tom's of Maine toothpastes, most notably https://www.tomsofmaine.com/products/oral-care/fluoride-free-botanically-toothpaste/peppermint-bright https://www.tomsofmaine.com/products/oral-care/fluoride-free...
  - mac1175 9y ago
    ^This. I use Biotene because it doesn't have SLS. I used to have this weird issue where after brushing, a residual, thick stuff (saliva? inner membranous lining of mouth?) would gather on my lips. It would be embarrassing wiping it off while talking to someone but it would subside an hour or so from brushing. After reading about SLS, I started looking for and SLS-free tooth paste. Since I have been using and SLS-free tooth paste, I have never had that problem again.
  - starlust2 9y ago
    Pronamel (sensodyne) has flouride and no SLS.
- YZF 9y ago
  You can just use baking soda ...
- kbutler 9y ago
  Fluoride is a thing.
chadcmulligan 9y ago
as my dentist said when I asked him about is there any thing to heal them - he replied well they can take either a week or 7 days to heal. He's a funny guy.

As someone who occasionally suffers from canker sores, I wish it were true that they'd heal faster than say a paper cut.

by goda90 9y ago

As someone who occasionally suffers from canker sores, I wish it were true that they'd heal faster than say a paper cut.

url00 9y ago

I'll just chime in as someone who used to get them all the time with what worked for me. Mouthwash, specifically Listerine. As long as I use it everyday I never get canker sores anymore.

0xcafecafe 9y ago

Exactly. They always seem much more painful than say a cut on your arm. I still don't know what is the underlying "mechanism" of a canker sore/mouth ulcer. Why do physiological conditions manifest as a "wound" in a random area of the mouth?

et-al 9y ago
If you're open to alternatie medicine, traditional Chinese medicine (and probably ayurvedic medicine) splits food into hot/cold groups that affect your body's balance. My personal armchair doctor explanation is that the inside of the mouth experiences a lot of small cuts, but our immune system takes care of those before they turn into larger wounds. When your immune system is weaker, or your mouth is drier, then those small wounds open into larger ones.

neolefty 9y ago

Consider food allergies -- I used to suffer from canker sores and then accidentally stopped drinking milk for 6 months (moved to a place where it wasn't available) and voila they disappeared! (I didn't actually notice that they had disappeared until I returned to milk-land, and they came back. Took another month or so to establish the link clearly, since there was 3-4 day delay between drinking milk and appearance of canker sores. Then it took another couple of years to alter my habits ...)

Cerium 9y ago
Great point. I have found that if I eat fresh uncooked pineapple then a similar few days later I get one. Sure can take a while to make the connection.
- IntronExon 9y ago
  Well that’s interesting... could it be the bromelain? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelain https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelain It seems likely, although you could test the theory by eating some raw papaya.
derefr 9y ago
It's not so much that you were drinking milk, as that you were drinking milk to answer thirst—i.e., you were drinking milk when dehydrated. When you're dehydrated, the mucous membranes of your mouth and throat and sinuses become highly absorbent to any fluid that passes by. If there are things dissolved in solution in that fluid, they'll get absorbed into your mucous membranes too, and stick around for quite a while (either until you drink something else; until you exercise or take in a sauna, and sort of "sweat internally", purging said membranes; or until your lymphatic system slowly flushes the contents of your interstitial fluid out to your liver.) To talk about canker sores, I first have to talk about dental plaque. Plaque appears when both of these conditions are true: 1. your mucous membranes are saturated with nutrients (such as those in milk, or juice, or soda, or "saucy" foods) amenable to the growth of bacterial biofilms; and 2. you are dehydrated enough—or under the chronic effects of diuretics such as caffeine—such that you don't consistently produce enough saliva to reach the mucous membrane and battle the nascent bacterial colony. (That's right: plaque may live on your teeth, but the food those bacteria consume mostly isn't food stuck to/between your teeth; it's food "in" the mucous membranes of your lips. This is why the regrowth speed of plaque seems to have no correlation to how well you've brushed your teeth—the factor is how much food they have access to, and brushing your teeth has no effect on the nutritive content of your mucous membranes.) Canker sores, then, happen when an established plaque (bacterial biofilm) colony is pressed into a dehydrated mucous membrane, further isolating it from the reach of saliva, for an extended period. Picture, say, a dirty tooth pressed against your lower/upper lip as you sleep, with your face laying to squeeze that part of your lip around the tooth, such that saliva can't get in. So, ways to avoid the problem: 1. brush your teeth at night (i.e. after you stop eating food.) It's more important than brushing in the morning, if you want to prevent canker sores. 2. If you're dehydrated, drink water or another substance that contains few bacteria-promoting nutrients (like unsweetened flavoured carbonated water, or even hard liquor.) If you can't—if only milk/juice/soda/beer/coolers are being served—then try to "chase" your drink with water as soon as possible. When you do, swish some of the water in your mouth as if it was a mouthwash. Ensure your mucous membranes themselves are getting hydrated. 3. Get enough vitamin C. Subclinical hypovitaminosis C ("pre-scurvy") causes the linings of your mucous membranes to weaken, making it easier for rough spots on your teeth to cause micro-abrasions in them, which is where bacterial biofilms get in. But make sure you're not "getting enough vitamin C" by drinking orange juice when you're dehydrated!

trevyn 9y ago

FYI, there’s an easy chemical cauterizer called Debacterol that’s basically a magic bullet for canker sores — after application, the pain is completely gone until it’s healed.

zackbloom 9y ago
Bee Propalis has worked spectacularly for me, and you can buy it for this purpose on Amazon.

762236 9y ago

Sometimes these are related to acid reflux. In my case I eliminated them by switching to a diet (earlier, medicine) to treat acid reflux. Quite a relief.

coliveira 9y ago
What diet do you use to treat acid reflux? I am taking pills, but want to avoid it.
- naasking 9y ago
  Avoiding or reducing acidic foods, like tomatoes, citrus fruits, coffee, alcohol, sodas (due to carbonic acid). There are comprehensive lists online.
- 762236 9y ago
  Something interesting: once acid escapes from the stomach into the esophagus, pepsin also escapes and lodges in your esophagus. It activates on foods lower than pH 5, thus digesting in your esophagus. Since it is an enzyme, it is reusable. I've been following the diet in the Acid Watcher Diet book, which keeps you on foods with a pH level higher than 5, for this reason and others. It has helped a lot, and I don't use a PPI, but I'll still often use an H2 blocker. A claim of the book is that you'll start healing and won't need to follow the diet so aggressively after a while. I believe that this applies to me too.
  - klipt 9y ago
    Pepsin denatures (is permanently destroyed) in a sufficiently alkaline pH, so you could also just drink some water with baking soda mixed in. Say half a teaspoon of baking soda in a cup of water might do the trick. Personally I found my worst heartburn was at night, so sleeping with a wedge pillow stopped me from needing pills. (Disclaimer: I am not a doctor.)

e40 9y ago

I 100% solved my canker sore problem when I stopped using toothpaste. Apparently it is the Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in it that causes them in some people. Give it a try. Can't hurt.

jms 9y ago
You can get SLS free toothpaste. Unfortunately the tubes I've found are also flouride free, and they have Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate in them, which I assume is similar to Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. SLS is only used to make foam when you brush your teeth. I promise I won't think any less of your toothpaste if it doesn't foam!
- fencepost 9y ago
  You might take a look at some of the Tom's of Maine toothpastes, most notably https://www.tomsofmaine.com/products/oral-care/fluoride-free-botanically-toothpaste/peppermint-bright https://www.tomsofmaine.com/products/oral-care/fluoride-free...
- mac1175 9y ago
  ^This. I use Biotene because it doesn't have SLS. I used to have this weird issue where after brushing, a residual, thick stuff (saliva? inner membranous lining of mouth?) would gather on my lips. It would be embarrassing wiping it off while talking to someone but it would subside an hour or so from brushing. After reading about SLS, I started looking for and SLS-free tooth paste. Since I have been using and SLS-free tooth paste, I have never had that problem again.
- starlust2 9y ago
  Pronamel (sensodyne) has flouride and no SLS.
YZF 9y ago
You can just use baking soda ...
kbutler 9y ago
Fluoride is a thing.

chadcmulligan 9y ago

as my dentist said when I asked him about is there any thing to heal them - he replied well they can take either a week or 7 days to heal. He's a funny guy.