Canker Sores

They are small and out of sight, but painful, persistent and annoying. They may occur on your tongue, inside your cheeks or lips, or at the base of your gums. They are called Aphthous Ulcers, but are more commonly known as canker sores.

They are different from the unrelated mouth pest known as a cold sore. The cold sore almost always starts on your lips, and may not even spread into the soft tissue of your mouth, while the canker sore starts from the inside of the mouth. Cold sores are also caused by a form of herpes virus which is extremely contagious. Canker sores are not viral related, and are not contagious at all. Canker sores are more common in females, and an estimated 10% of the population has recurring problems with them. In just under half of the cases of canker sores there is prior family history.

The exact mechanism which causes them has not been determined, but the likely cause is a reaction of a person’s own immune system. For some unexplained reason, the immune system identifies an invading agent inside the mucous membrane of the mouth that isn’t really there. The immune system’s job is to identify invaders, and dispatch white blood cells to deal with them. In the case of the canker sore, the white blood cells attack healthy tissue that is minding its own business. The resulting carnage to the tissue is the resulting canker sore.

As with many similar problems, the best way to get rid of them might just be to never get them in the first place. With that in mind, here are some of the potential causes of canker sores. Avoiding them will help.

Canker Sore Causes

Toothpaste. Toothpastes that contain sodium lauryl sulfate tend to have a drying effect on the tissues of the mouth, breaking down the surface protection, and perhaps triggering the beginning of the sore. If canker sores are a problem, toothpaste that is free of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) can help.

Trauma. In one study, 38% of the people who developed canker sores reported some injury to the tissue inside their mouth prior to the development of the sores. These included self inflicted bites, or irritation from sharp teeth. Since very few people deliberately cause injury to the inside of their mouth, you are likely avoiding this one already.

Stress. Stress gets blamed for pretty much everything that can go wrong with you health wise and canker sores are no exception. It is good to avoid stress anyway. If it helps reduce the occurrence of canker sores, that is even better.

Nutritional Deficiency. Some research has shown that people who develop frequent canker sores also suffer from some sort of nutritional deficiency. Vitamin deficiencies: B1, B2, B6, B12, C and other nutrients: zinc, folic acid, iron, selenium, calcium have all been linked to the sores. Like stress, nutritional deficiency gets blamed for a lot of health problems, and you should already be avoiding it.

Allergic Reactions. There is a whole host of items that could be causing canker sores by through what is really a kind of allergic reaction of the tissues of the mouth to a substance. The list of foods that are suspected here reads like an inventory list of your local grocery store. Have you added anything new to your diet recently? Try systematically removing certain foods to see if this helps clear up the problem.

Hormonal Changes and Genetic Dispositions. These are things that you aren’t going to be able to avoid, so if it is the cause of your canker sores, you might as well just skip on down to the treatment options.

It is important to note that canker sores are sometimes associated with other medical problems, some of them serious. If the problem becomes frequent, a visit to the doctor is suggested, if for no other reason than to eliminate them as a concern.

Since much of the above is either hard to avoid, or impossible, you may very well find yourself with a canker sore, so lets look at some time honored ways to get rid of them

Learn How To Get Rid of Canker Sores >>

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