Canker Sores

[crokett]

anybody got any cures, other than wait? I know they are basically ulcers so have cut grapefruit and citrus from breakfast for the last several days and am now down to 1 cup of coffee in the AM till it goes away. Anything else I can do?

[cabinetman]

One thing you shouldn't do is kiss anyone.

There is no cure for canker sores, but they usually go away on their own in 7 to 10 days. For pain relief, you can try taking ibuprofen (two brand names: Advil, Motrin) or acetaminophen (one brand name: Tylenol). A number of over-the-counter medicines are available to relieve canker sore pain or to protect the sores from becoming irritated when you eat, drink or brush your teeth. Ask your doctor or pharmacist if one of these products might be right for you.
http://familydoctor.org/online/famdo...ddleColumn0002
.

[nadz]

mouthwash

i hit the mouthwash a few more times than normal, seems to help the pain and sort of speed up the healing, but that could just be in my head...

[twistsol]

I use the liquid Anbesol and it seems to dull the pain. It is also an antiseptic so while it won't really help it heal faster, it will keep it from getting worse. It tastes really nasty and if you mistake the bottle for eyedrops in the middle of the night it burns like a son of a b@$%ch.

[herb fellows]

If you google it, you'll find as many 'cures' as sufferers. Many people swear by gargling a few times a day with salt water, but I've never had any luck with that.
OTC medicines are not priced by how much they cost to manufacture, but by how desperate the customer is for relief, so most of these are priced higher than other otc medicines.
Anything that you find that will coat it while you eat will be a plus. I think some people use milk of magnesia as a cheap alternative to the other coating medicines, although I haven't tried it.

[atgcpaul]

Long time sufferer and for me it's brought on by stress or by accidentally
biting my inside lip. I've tried the analgesics like Ambasol but they taste
horrible. The relief is brief and it doesn't seem to make them heal faster.

This sounds crazy, but what I do (something my college roommate told me) is
to brush the s**t out of it with my toothbrush. He's not the practical joke
kind of guy. I use an electric brush with a rotary head. This hurts like a son
of a b***h and the pain is so intense the nerves seem to just stop
responding. I don't know why but the this seems to cut the healing time by
a few days compared to doing nothing.

[natausch]

I have two, doubt you'll like either.

Passive:
Rinse with olive oil or salt water, helps reduce duration to about 3-4 days
Difficulty: Hard - trouble avoiding desire to vomit

Agressive:
Wet your finger and dip it in table salt. Apply the salt direcetly to the canker sore, repeating every half minute or so, not swallowing until the burning subsides,figure about 2-3 minutes. Sometimes requires doing this a couple times but instead of a canker sore you'll have a rough patch of skin that will heal up in a day or two
Difficulty: Umm, you're chemically burning a mouth blister, did you think it would be easy?

[jessrice]

crokett,

about 20 years ago, my ex in laws (another story) told me they used Powdered alum for canker sore relief. I never heard of it, but they swore they used it for decades and i got a sore a few days prior to thanksgiving and didn't want to miss out.


Anyway now when i ever i get a sore, i wet my finger and drop some alum on it and put it right on the sore. it burns a little and taste like crap, but the sore usually flattens out and starts "drying" up. I do it about three times for the first day and normally by the second its pretty much gone. I let it sit the sore as long as possible, usually right up to the point of drool coming out of my mouth. Then I spit and rinse.

I hate the taste and feel so much that sometimes I have suffered an extra day, but eventually give in and do it and feel much better.

I habe had about a dozen other people use it in the past and they all swear it works, and now keep the alum in the medicine cabinet.

I don't know why it works, but if you Google powdered alum and canker sore you will get lots of results from natural remedy sites.

It is sold it the spice/canning section of the grocery store and goes a long way. I think it is used for canning pickles, so unless you can, I can tell you a bottle will last for years.

PS: I am not normally one for "earth muffin cures" and this is only home cure thing i have used, just didn't to think that i was an extremist for anything other than tool collecting!

Jesse

[Uncle Cracker]

Take about 16 oz. of good tequila... It won't do a thing for the sores, but it'll make you not care about them anymore...

[Ed62]

Wet your finger and dip it in table salt. Apply the salt direcetly to the canker sore

Absolutely! It works too.

Ed

[phi1l]

ya I understand that stress has a lot to do with it. I would stop worrying about the lawn mower in February, & maybe slow down a little on the big projects

[nadz]

Take about 16 oz. of good tequila... It won't do a thing for the sores, but it'll make you not care about them anymore...

although i believe there is no such thing as 'good' tequila (only evil), i like this as a cure-all

[crokett]

If this thing is still around in a day or so I will try the alum. It doesn't really hurt, it is just annoying.

[phrog]

While practicing dentistry I used to write a prescription for a medicine that would stick to the oral mucosa and provide relief. There are a zillion home remedies out there and some are actually dangerous. Better be careful about what you use, David. Avoid any toothpaste that has SLS or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - some studies have shown that the incidence of canker sores increases among people who use this. If you want to look up info, the medical name is aphthous stomatitis. You might want to see a dentist if the pain becomes unbearable or the condition persists.

[Kristofor]

My cure was having my braces removed in 1991 or so. Since then I very rarely end up with them, generally only if I bite my lip or get bonked in the face/jaw (yay 2yr old....).

I don't know if it really helps or how I picked it up but I'm with atgcpaul and say to simply brush the heck out of it (it hurts while you're doing it but seems to make it feel better afterwards).