Canker Sores

[UK]

[ThatGuy]

Canker sores SUCK. I get them pretty frequently (usually stress-related), and I completely understand your pain. Eating is hard, talking is hard, etc. Those little buggers are terrible.

I have a little tube of numbing medication that works well (can't remember the name), but other than that I make sure to keep my mouth clean (which obviously hurts) to get everything healed up quickly. Putting some alum on it can help, too.

[sighyoung]

Putting some alum on it can help, too.

I use powdered alum, too--hold it on the sore for half a minute or so, then rinse completely (don't swallow the alum).

My dad taught me that remedy. But it's hard to find powdered alum these days.

[Cronos]

Those things really do suck; I haven't gotten one lately but I do get them on a seemingly bi-monthly basis and for me it takes about a week or so for one to go away completely.

It may not be the best thing to be doing to it, but one trick I found that numbs it enough for you to be able to eat a meal freely with it is to gargle with some listerine or other mouthwash right before you eat. Hurts like hell when it first hits the sore, but the alcohol content in the listerine will numb it after about 30 seconds worth and you can eat the meal without pain.

Canker sores and cold sores/fever blisters are my arch-nemesi. I'm dealing with one of the latter currently.

[ThatGuy]

It may not be the best thing to be doing to it, but one trick I found that numbs it enough for you to be able to eat a meal freely with it is to gargle with some listerine or other mouthwash right before you eat. Hurts like hell when it first hits the sore, but the alcohol content in the listerine will numb it after about 30 seconds worth and you can eat the meal without pain.

++

My rule of thumb for treatments like these (at least in terms of canker sores) is the following: the more it hurts, the better it works.

That's probably wrong on many different levels, but it works for me.

[heyzeus]

Ugh, I just bit my lip in the exact same place for the second time this week. No doubt it'll turn into a canker sore that will last forever.

[cardinalkarp]

Ugh, I just bit my lip in the exact same place for the second time this week. No doubt it'll turn into a canker sore that will last forever.

That's basically the only way I'll get them now.