Very Painful Canker Sore

[DMarie]

I have two canker sores in my mouth. One is in the front of my lip. I have had this one for about a week now and its really painful and is the biggest one I have ever had. Its as big of the size of a pencil eraser and is really red allaround it. My lip is all swollen on that side and my gums and teeth that its up against are very painful as well. I've tried anbesol and cankaid to help or at least relieve the pain and neither onw seems to work. I've tried swishing my mouth with peroxide and salt water as well and it didn't help. Please help me, is this a normal canker sore?

[Angelene]

Unfortunately, yes. It's a mouth ulcer, really, and I get them often, too. They stink.

I try to keep drinking fluids, like water, hot tea, etc b/c you want to keep flushing the bacteria (which are always in your mouth) out. I find that what works the best to relieve the pain is either anbesol gel, anbesol mint flavor, or this stuff called Kanka. This stuff is great, it forms a "crust" over the ulcer itself and starts to heal it, unlike anbesol which numbs it for about a minute and a half.

I tend to get these when I use listerine, switch toothpastes, or in the unfortunate case of biting through my lip. Those are the worst! Mine usually take a week to two weeks to heal to the point of tolerance. The most you can do is just try to stay away from foods that aggravate it--salty stuff and really sweet stuff. Advil can help too.

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"Never give up, never surrender!"

[This message has been edited by Angelene (edited 03-02-2003).]

[DMarie]

Thank you so much for your reply. I ended up going to the doctor, becuase I couldn't take it anymore and he gave me Aphthasol paste. It doesn't really take away the pain, but its starting to heal. I also changed my toothpaste like you said, this seems to be helping too.

[FrJackHackett]

I've had many of these over the years. It's well worthwhile trying to establish what causes them for you. The funny thing is that sometimes certain ulcers will grow large and painful while other ones will not. Sometimes a mouth bite will produce an ulcer, sometimes it just heals. Still more puzzling, a large one can cause you to almost feel sick for a couple of hours and then be painless for a while. One cause for me I have definitely established beyond doubt is eating chocolate, especially coconut chocolate or chocolate with nuts. This (unfortunately because I like it !) will give me ulcers in two or three days.

To what degree am I allowed to mention brand names ? I guess we'll soon find out. The only thing I have found to markedly decrease the pain and duration of mouth ulcers is a strong, concentrated mouthwash called Savacol. I find it superior to those anaesthetic gels which, although providing immediate numbness, soon wear off and seem to leave the pain worse than before. The mouthwash, on the other hand, does not eliminate pain entirely or immediately but certainly shortens the ulcer's duration. The only thing against it is that it stains your teeth quite badly. Personally, I don't care about this but it may worry some people.



[This message has been edited by FrJackHackett (edited 03-03-2003).]

[thisstarr]

Hi Everyone,

When I was in high school I use to get canker sores all the time and I took the OTC product Adidophilus, it really worked! You can buy it at Wal-mart!

Take care,

Starr

[This message has been edited by thisstarr (edited 03-08-2003).]