Please help with these canker sores!

See the clinic at the university. It may or may not be canker sores, and that many is painful.

My grandmother used to break up Milk of Magnesia pills and rub the pieces on our canker sores. The sores would be gone that day.

Canker sores can be made worse with stress… So I suggest taking the day off and relaxing. You can buy Canker sore over the counter medication like Abreva from the local drug store.

This has been happening to me for a few weeks now, there have been two points where they were all over my mouth and I couldn’t eat for two days, my doctor said it was from stress but he also ran some tests to make sure that it wasn’t anything more insidious, like lupus. Have you seen a doctor? I didn’t see your other question, so I don’t know if I missed details that weren’t posted here.
@talljasperman mentioned Abreva, but that is cold sore medication, which are different from canker sores. I assume you have ruled out cold sores?

Also, I bought an “extra soft” toothbrush and some Biotene mouthwash for hygiene, because when mine was broken out, even my regular soft brush was very painful, never mind that I normally use Listerine mouth wash. That might help.

@cutiepi92 I used to gargle with salt water…. It sort of helps sometimes. @DigitalBlue I don’t know the difference from canker sores and cold sores. So I will yield that knowledge to you.

@talljasperman canker sores are little, round ulcers, sometimes people call them irritated taste buds. They commonly happen after you eat something acidic that irritates your mouth or sometimes from sucking on hard candies.
Cold sores are from a herpes simplex infection, that causes blistering ulcers that can be on the outside and/or inside of the mouth.

definitely not cold sores, they are these tiny little white ulcers with a red rim that happen in the fleshy parts of the mouth. I’ve gotten them after I’ve bitten the inside of my mouth though too. Milk of Magnesia may be the move, I’ll pick some up tonight.

Unfortunately I can’t take time off, I have a lot of projects due this week as well. Ah, the life of a college student during the last two weeks of the semester. I’ll try my best to make it to the doctor’s, but I may not be able to :( My schedule with my internship and school doesn’t open up until after five…...GRRRRRR this sucks

Yeah, same thing has been happening to me. I have just been babying mine while it heals and trying to prevent any new ones from forming, it seemed to be triggered by dental work for me. Salt water rinses, a very soft toothbrush, and I’ve been sticking to liquids and soft foods that won’t irritate it further. It’s uncomfortable, but I think that’s about all that can be done (I haven’t tried the milk of magnesia, though.)
I do relate, though, this has never happened to me before and it has been less than pleasant. I hope you feel better soon.

I have had some really nasty ones too, especially when I get them on my tongue. My mom would make me a salad with olive oil and vinegar. The canker sore would hurt real bad when eating the salad, but then I saw that it healed up really fast.
Another thing you could try is by putting salt on it or gargling with salt water. Now the sores would hurt like crazy when you put salt on it, but it would clear up fast.

Try to also keep the mouth clean by using Listerine, rinse the mouth every 20 minuites or so. Try to also relax and not stress to much because that is what causes them and never go to bed without brushing your teeth.

This won’t necessarily heal them, but my husband swears by Zilactin B. It’s a gel that can be hard to find, but we usually get it at Rite Aid. He says it’s the only thing out there that helps the pain, and he’s tried them all. It burns at first, but then forms a gross-looking protective coating over the sore that allows you to talk and eat without pain for hours before you have to reapply it. If you can find it, get it.

White ulcers or blisters? White with red rims sounds like herpes. The doctor can prescibe you medicine that usually works very well. Valtrex is a popular one.

I had great results with Kanka. Apply it as needed until they are gone. It is the only waterproof formula that I found that will stay and not just dissolve away. Plus it will numb the pain.

@Cruiser How interesting. My husband finds that Kanka washes away just like all the others he’s tried, aside from Zilactin B.

@livelaughlove21 You have to hold your lip out and let the application dry a bit to get the best results. That said I don’t have a huge level of experience here as I don’t get sores but once in a blue moon…but Kanka worked well when I have.

@Cruiser Of course. My husband has a process – he holds his lip out and dries the area around the sore, applies the gel, and waits 45–60 seconds with his lip held out so the protective layer dries. He’s had cold sores his whole life. He’s never had as many as the OP at one time, though.

My family’s tried and true remedy was to swish warm salt water in the mouth every few hours. Always worked for me.

Are you sure you have canker sores and not Thrush?? Have you been eating a lot of sugar lately with all this stress you are going thru?? I would have your doctor or school nurse take a look to be sure.

I’m 100% positive. It looks like this. It’s definitely canker sores lol. Image matching plus I’ve gone to the dentist before about it and she said the same; I have gotten them before, this is just the most at one time. While there are a few on the inside of my lip, two are in really weird places where my mouth meets my top gum :( hard to reach with topical stuff. I’m scared a new one will pop up tomorrow in another random ass location in my mouth >_<

I’ll look up Zilactin B though, making a drugstore trip tomorrow.

Thanks for all of the support :)

I had a canker sore on my tongue. I dabbled some Hydrogen Peroxide on to it and I couldn’t feel it the next day.

What is more than a quick remedy you need to change your out look and not be so stressed. Write down all your goals and tasks for the day. It will be much easier to follow as a check list.

If you buy a product specifically for the canker sores, you need to apply it carefully and this can be quite painful. Firstly get a Q-tip and dry the sore carefully (very ouchy ouchy, but very important). Then use the other end to smear the cream/ointment on – again can be painful so smear rather than pressing the cream on. This process should ensure that it sticks.

One of the reasons that these sores appear is because the mouth produces chemicals that break down your food. If you have a cut or open sore, the mouth chemicals don’t know the difference and will keep on trying to break down your flesh. This makes the sores so difficult to heal. By covering the sore with a cream, the body can get to work healing it without the mouth chemicals reopening it.

@cutiepie92 FYI, cold sores and canker sores look the same inside the mouth. The fact that you are having several pop up in random places in your mouth makes it seem very possible that this could be a cold sore outbreak. I’d see a doctor, and/or get some benzocaine to rub on them to relieve the pain.

@cutiepi92 Can you ask the dentist you saw before to prescribe something for you since this case is so uncomfortable?

If the sores are on the soft tissue, they are more likely to be canker sores than cold sores, which tend to occur on the outside the the mouth/lips. Cold sores can develop inside the mouth, but when they do, they are usually on the gums or roof of the mouth, and not as often on the cheeks, tongue, or inside of the lips.

Cold sores typically present as fluid-filled blisters, not sores like the ones seen on the OP’s link. Cankers normally heal on their own within 7–10 days, while cold sores will form a scab after the blister pops and then stick around for a bit afterward. And the fact that she’s had them pop up “in random places” leads me to believe that they are, in fact, canker sores. When cold sores develop in multiples, they normally form together in a cluster as opposed to spread out.

My husband and his little sister have had recurring canker sores throughout their entire lives, and it’s definitely not cold sores. He usually gets one or two every couple of months, uses his Zilactin B, and they go away in about a week. Hers are usually worse and she can have several in her mouth at once. But again, they are not cold sores – doctors have confirmed this.

To clarify I think the OP has canker sores also after her explanation and photo.

Okay, here is my home remedy for cancer sores. My grandmother told me to put alum on them. Alum is in the spice section – it is the ingredient they put into pickles to make them crunchy. Anyway, dab a cotton swab in the alum and then apply to your cancer sores. Burns like everything, but cancers are so painful that you barely notice. It works instantly, as if you had hit it with liquid nitrogen.

Helloooooo!

So update! The ones on my inner lower lip are starting to heal. I know this because I can actually bite into sandwiches now without feeling like the bottom half of my face is being burned off :) They’re not gone, but have downgraded to annoyances. The couple towards the top of my mouth are still there (they were the last to appear) and in full force, but they hurt less because food and water doesn’t get up there as easy and my teeth don’t scrape against them like the ones on the bottom. My store only had this stuff called Canker-X, so I just dried the sores off with some tissue (ouchie), dabbed with hydrogen peroxide, and then dabbed the stuff i bought on there. Went from burning pain to a dull throb :) I think that helped me heal of faster too

Thanks everyone!! While the ordeal isn’t over, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel lol.