Okay, after a month long hiatus, I started eating right again. Now, I have a lovely little batch of canker sores in my mouth. NOT cold sores, but canker sores. Dang they hurt! It may be from the Newman's dressing (more acidic than normal. Heck, *normally* do not eat salads). Or even my decaf coffee (never possed problem before). Not sure. Anyone else have this problem?

My mom gets canker sores in her mouth and on her lips when she consumes too much citric acid, vinegar and basically anything w/too much acid in it. The dressing just may be the cause of the situation. Maybe nix it out and see if the problem remedies itself.

Good luck on dealing w/those suckers! Don't fret though, they will fade and go away.

Nikki

My dad has given this remedy to many people. It works because they call him back and give him thanks. He says drinking it is just fine but if you want real fast relief is to suck on the bag after it has been soaked for a cup of tea. Try it it may be a tasty solution with a little splende

Nancy

I've always gently rinsed my mouth out with warm salt water a few times a day to get rid of the chancre sores. Or you could put a teaspoon of peroxide in warm water and rinse. You can get them from irritations in your mouth. I get them if I ever forgot to brush my teeth before bed (remember before LCing when your teeth would get fuzzy? mine did, anyway, but not since I started LCing--another great benefit!!).

take care,

N.

From: ada.org

What's the difference between a canker sore and a cold sore?

Canker sores are often confused with cold sores. An easy way to distinguish between the two is to remember that canker sores occur inside the mouth, and cold sores usually occur outside the mouth.

A canker sore (also called aphthous ulcers) is a small ulcer with a white or gray base and red border. There can be one or a number of sores in the mouth. Canker sores are very common and often recur.

A cold sore, which is also called fever blister or herpes simplex, is composed of groups of painful, fluid-filled blisters that often erupt around the lips and sometime under the nose or under the chin. Cold sores are usually caused by herpes virus type I and are very contagious.

Canker sores usually heal in about a week or two. Rinsing with antimicrobial mouthrinses may help reduce the irritation. Over-the-counter topical anesthetics can also provide relief. Cold sores usually heal in about a week. Over-the-counter topical anesthetics can provide temporary relief and prescription antiviral drugs may reduce these kinds of viral infections.

(My 2 cents from personal experience: L-lysine is good for keeping cold sores at bay.)

According to Dr. Jonathan Wright, MD, recurring cancker sores may be a sign of a food allergy or food sensitivity. You might want to ex[plore this possibility.

I was searching the web for information related to canker sores and the Atkins Diet, and found this thread. Yes, I have been fighting canker sores for several months now, since I was about a month and a half into the Atkins diet. I have been off of the diet for quite some time now, but the canker sores keep on recurring.

I visited my dermatologist today. He told me that the Atkins diet could have caused my flora to be off balance, and that is causing the sores. He prescribed what he called a Magic Mouthwash that contains, among other things, tetracycline and benadryl. It is supposed to provide both relief from the sores and seal the sites temporarily.

He also told me to get a styptic pencil (like men use on shaving oops). He said to mix a small amount of water with the alum from the styptic pencil and dab it on the (dried) sores. He said this would also help close the sites and allow them to heal.

Finally he told me that research has found that smoking tends to suppress outbreaks. I have been struggling for several months to quit smoking, and have intermittently been smoking only a few a day. I haven't correlated the outbreaks to my days of smoking little, but that could be. Please note, however, that I was NOT trying to quit when I was on the Atkins Diet. I believe the diet triggered the first (few) outbreaks, and trying to quit smoking may be making them keep going.

MP

I have recurring sores. So painful, I take the odd oxy-codone(oxycet, oxycontin) to help me sleep. Supposedly B12 and folic acid supplements will help prevent this.

Most importantly, I have discovered an abundance of information on an additive in toothpaste that aggravates and prolonges the sores. It's known as SLS, or sodium laurel sulfate, a foaming agent. It seems that modern soaps do not need to foam up, in order to work. (think dishwasher or laundry soap) and that marketing ppl know that consumers have been conditioned to believe that if it doesn't foam up - it doesn't clean. Hence the addition of useless foaming agents into many of our consumables and cleaning products.

I had been using a mouthrinse called Biotene , to help with my sores, it's antibacterial enzymes stimulate your salivary glands, so it helps with dry mouth. After a recent bout with sores - I found that they are marketing a toothpaste sans SLS, and I have to say it works great.

Normally, brushing my teeth in the presense of sores was *absolutely excruciating,* Now its painless, and the sores seem to clear up in a couple days.

There are many non-SLS products out there, give one a try.

Sorry for the long post, but I've been SUFFERING for years until I found this, so good luck, I know your pain. Some links at the end of the page for you.

jupiter

Biotene
SLS , Toothpast and Canker sores
Googled - SLS + CANKER

Hi There-
You know, I had seen an article about the sodium laurel sulfate in toothpastes and had thought that perhaps the people who wrote the article had a vested interest in getting us to use their toothpaste without the stuff, so I didn't try it. It may be worth it if you say it works. Since I brush my teeth alongside my 3 year old all the time, and her toothpaste isn't especially foamy, it may be a good move for her comfort too.

In the interim, I have also found a so-so remedy to my sores. There is a product called Peridex that is prescribed by dentists for gingivitis (gum disease). Anyway, my dentist says that she stumbled on it quite by accident that patients using Peridex reported shorter durations of canker sore outbreaks or total suppression of the outbreaks. My dentist cautioned that the stuff doesn't seem to work that well if you don't start using it immediately once you start getting that itchy tingling sensation in your mouth. (My sores are usually signalled by little sores on the sides of my tongue.)

This last time that I had pain in my mouth, I never had any sores (as in the white blistery things) come up, but my mouth was tender for several days. The blisters are much worse for me than the tender mouth, so it's nice that they didn't happen this time.

Thanks for your response and the links.

Take care,
MP

Do get the tooth paste mentioned in a previous post or you can try Rembrants version, cannot recall the exact name but it says something on the packaging about being anti cancer sore. I started using only SLS free tooth pastes about 8 years ago after hearing Paul Harvey mention the Rembrant stuff on one of his broadcasts. I had spent the majority of my life either with canker sores, as in 24/7/365. Mine did not heal within a week, they lasted for weeks and weeks. They were often the size of quarters and so painful that it was difficult to speak or eat. I tried L-lisine, which helped a bit, but until I changed tooth paste I was still plagued with them contantly. Besides changing tooth pastes I also NEVER eat walnuts and rarely eat pecans. When I was still eating such things I would from time to time attempt to eat a cookie or brownie with walnuts in them, just spit the walnut out-no harm, right? Wrong! I would have canker sores on the tip of my tongue and anywhere on the inside of my mouth that the walnut spent any time on. I also became very aware of some of the multi grain breads which sometimes have walnuts in them. Again, do try the toothpaste change. I bet it will help a bunch.

Hi There JRTMom-
Thanks for seconding the motion on the toothpaste without sodium laurel sulfate to keep the canker sores at bay. I'll try it and let you know what I find.
Take care,
MP