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I have some canker sores on the inside of my lip and on my gums that are very painful. My mom told me to put cream of tartar on them. Well, it's working; they're a lot less painful. But I've never tasted that stuff straight before, and it's nasty! Ick.
She did say that her parents used to make her put salt on hers, but that it burns more. I had been using hydrogen peroxide, but it wasn't helping much. Any other ideas?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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The local pharmacist should have some suggestions. I seem to remember that they sell little bottles (they look like superglue bottles) of canker sore medicine. It's nice because they have a small tip, so you don't have to fill your mouth with something chalky/salty/gross.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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I ususally gargle with toasty warm salt water. My grandma got a little tube of that stuff that's supposed to make them go away. It did, but it was like $15. Myself, I'll stick to the salt water.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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Should I mention here that my husband has the car, and besides, I don't really want to spend money on the buggers?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Often decreasing refined sugar intake helps, but sometimes it's just a reaction to stress. For some reason, I really did get a whole lot fewer canker sores when I started using a little honey in my tea. An anecdotal suggestion from someone else that seemed to work for me (now it's maybe once or twice a year, if that, whereas before it was certainly at least monthly).
Rinsing your mouth with milk of magnesia helps decrease the acid that can be part of the pain.
I've heard and used this trick, but it is not really medical advise (just anecdotal) -- holding a sulfur-tipped match against the spot can help. Adults only, please. ( )
Way back when mercurochrome contained iodine, I used to put a tiny drop on a canker sore and it would burn like fire for a minute, then no more. But iodine isn't recommended for oral use, as you could absorb a toxic amount in theory, and mercurochrome is iodine-free now.
Good luck!
Let us know if something works for you.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Sara: I think it's a combination of stress, the baby raking and digging inside ny lip with her fingernails, and a little virus. I'd try switching to honey in stuff, but I have a sensitivity to it.
I guess I'll try salt or saltwater. Any ideas which is better?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Gargling with warm saltwater was always as or more effective than anything else I've tried. That and avoiding raw pineapple or pineapple juice in any major quantity.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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If I have an open mouth sore I usually gargle with salt and warm water then I put honey on it. It burns, but it works.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I use about 6 ounces of fairly hot tap water - a little more than lukewarm - and add salt until the solution is saturated. Then I gargle with it two or three times in a row (using different mouthfuls for each gargle, of course). Don't rinse afterwards for as long as you can stand it.
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I've never measured. I just pour table salt into warm water and make sure it's dissolved. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say maybe a tablespoon of salt for an 8 ounce glass of water. Then I'd just gargle/swish as many times as the water lasted.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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Yep. They tend to run in families, and stress, viruses, etc. can bring them out.
As for the honey, not allergic, but sensitive, and trying to avoid developing a full-blown allergy, as I have too many already.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Isn't it a form of Herpes or something? Mine flare up when I eat or drink something acidic -- especially pineapple. Sometimes orange juice or lemonade, too.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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No, the ones on the outside of your lip are caused by a herpes complex. The inside are hereditary.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Ok. Assuming you know what you're talking about, I now know more than I did earlier when I knew less than I do now.
Posts: 6213 | Registered: May 2001
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And I just did salt water. Very strong salt water. I first tried about a Tbsp. in 4 oz. water, but it didn't burn, so I doubled the salt. It burned. It still burns. But I haven't rinsed yet, and now they're starting to turn white and numb on top. Is that what's supposed to happen?
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I get cankers whenever I get stressed about something. My mind forces itself to become calm, so my body completely rebels.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Herpes can be inside the mouth, too, but it is less common than outside the lip. In order to be sure which is which, one must take a culture by digging around very painfully into an open sore. Viral cultures take forever, too.
Herpes inside the mouth tends to be on loose tissue (e.g., insides of cheek and lip), while canker sores tend to occur on tacked-down mucosa (e.g., gumline, hard palate), but this is not a hard and fast rule. I will always get a canker sore if I bite the inside of my cheek accidentally, exactly at the point of trauma (like ketchupqueen, sounds like).
Little kids with Coxsackie virus (one of the Herpes family of viruses) can get hand-foot-mouth disease with ulcers in the back of the throat and the palate.
Posts: 2919 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I buy some medication called Kanka (or Canka) it stings like heck, but then numbs the area. The sores usually disappear pretty quickly after I start using it.
I hope they get better for you KQ!
Posts: 862 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Sara, I'm pretty sure I have the non-virus, caused-by-trauma type; I get them when I bite my cheek, too. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I get them when I'm under a period of perlonged stress. I've had a whole bunch at once earlier this semester when I was very neurotic about failing a class. I withdrew from the class and they were gone in a few days.
I always get them between my cheek and gum, down by the base of my gums. I have a fidgety tougue, so I poke them a lot.
Posts: 903 | Registered: May 2003
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My mother swears that bananas help canker sores, so when I have them, I eat one. I usually press the peice of banana right up against the sore and leave it there for as long as I can stand. Maybe its a placebo effect, but I do think it eases the soreness a bit. Mom actually puts a peice of the inside of the banana peel right up against the sore and leaves it there for 5 to 15 minutes.
That's a bit too bitter for me, but she swears by it.
Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I'm with you Mack... I just rip the durned things apart with my teeth and then they heal in no time. Hurts a bit when you first tear em out, but then they just scab over and heal in a day or two.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I had a great-aunt (who lived to be 103) that swore by using buttermilk to cure canker sores in the mouth. Whenever she got one, she would drink buttermilk.
Now, I've never really had the stomach or desire to try her cure, so I can't vouch for it myself....
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It doesn't hurt when I chew the inside of my cheeks. I guess they just aren't totally smooth. I can't explain it. It's just something I do.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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Just wanted to let everyone who recommended salt water know that they're already almost healed. I'll do it again tonight if they're not gone, but there's a good chance they will be.
Didn't I read somewhere that the mouth heals faster than any other part of the body?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I do that with my inner lip, not so much my cheek.
When I get cankers I brush my teeth really well with lots of toothpaste even though it hurts like all get out. But it makes it way less sore. Maybe it's the peroxide in it?
Posts: 4089 | Registered: Apr 2003
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