Canker Sore Treatment, Causes and Types

“Canker sore”, also called aphthous, is a type of mouth sore. These small, shallow lesions develop inside your mouth on the soft tissues (under the tongue) or at the base of the gums (roof of mouth and upper or lower jaw). Unlike a cold sore which appears on the lips, canker sores are not contagious, but they can be painful and irritating and can make eating difficult. 

Canker sore causes include stress, minor injuries inside your mouth, or acidic food. Its treatment includes applying resins, ointments, and gel over the counter area. Most of the time canker sore can go within one or two weeks without using any medicine, but if it remains for a prolonged time then you should consult a Doctor.

Symptoms

Canker Sore usually appears inside the lips, or cheeks, under the tongue, on the roof of the mouth, or on your gums. They appear most of the time yellow or white and are surrounded by red, inflamed soft tissue.

Canker symptoms include:

• White or yellow oval-shaped ulcer in your mouth
• Burning and Tingling sensations 
• Painful during eating, drinking, and speaking

Sometimes other symptoms also present, including:

• Fever
• Swollen Lymph Node

Types of Canker Sore

These are three types of canker sores:

1. Minor Canker Sore

Minor canker sores are small oval-shaped bumps inside the mouth. These are the most common canker sores but can be painful. They can heal within one or two weeks.

2. Major Canker Sore

These are Large round bumps inside the mouth and are less common than minor canker sores and cause more severe pain, tingling, and burning even you will face difficulty during speaking, eating, and drinking.

3. Herpetiform Canker Sore

Small, pinhead-sized bumps inside the mouth. They are very less common among people, only about five percent are affected by this. They can merge together to form clusters in rare cases. In this situation, they could take several weeks to heal and may cause scarring.

Canker Sore Causes

It is hard to know what exactly causes a canker sore. But there are things that might cause minor sores, including:

• Acidic or spicy food, including citrus or acidic fruits and vegetables (lemon, grapes, oranges, pineapple, apples, figs, tomatoes, and strawberries).
• Stress
• Allergic to something in the food, toothpaste, or mouthwash
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen
• The bacteria that can cause peptic ulcer, Helicobacter pylori

Things that can cause serious canker sores include:

• Nutritional problems for example too little vitamin B12, zinc, folic acid, or iron
• A health condition present at a time like HIV/Aid, lupus, weakened immune system, or Bahcet’s disease.
• Gastrointestinal diseases like Crohn’s or celiac

Canker sores may run in families. One in Five people gets a canker sore daily. They are common in women, possibly because of hormonal differences.

Canker sore treatment

In most cases, minor mouth sores will be cured within one to two weeks. But they can be painful. For the treatment of canker sores, there are some home remedies and medical prescriptions as well.

Home Remedies For Mouth Ulcer

The Home remedy given below should follow three to four times a day for the result. The U.S. Library of Medicine suggests these.

• Mix baking soda or salt in warm water and swish it around your mouth.
• Place a bit of Milk of Magnesia on a cotton swab, and dab it on the ulcer.
• Make a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and half water.
• Use a cotton swab to apply some mixture directly to the ulcer

Alternative Therapies may also be worth trying to include:

• Vitamin B complex, vitamin C, and lysine might speed healing at the onset of lesions when taken orally.
• Anecdotes of relief and better healing from sucking zinc gluconate Lozenges.
• Sage and chamomile mouthwash four to six times a day may help - infuse equal pieces of the two herbs in water.
• Celery, Carrot, and Cantaloupe juices have been useful as reported

Prescribed Canker Sore Medication 

Saver Canker Sore should be treated by Doctors and get medicine as prescribed by him. But still, any treatment to cure the ulcer is not certain to change its course but can reduce the symptoms.

• Some medication designed to be used in some conditions, for example, cites an association between recurrent cases of canker sores and an overactive immune system, so topical immunosuppressant medications may help, such as locally applied cortisone.
• Antibiotics may be used to minimize inflammatory irritation if a bacterial infection is present.
• Anaesthetics are also being used as a product for aphthous ulcers.

Specialists may also be needed to diagnose these specific conditions.

Thing to Avoid

• Spicy, Acidic, or hot foods and drinks.
• Abrasive foods which can stick in the mouth (for example potato chips)
• Don’t chew gum
• A soft-bristled brush should be used to Brush your teeth after meals, and floss daily.