Canker sore may occur at almost any time. This is a type of ulcer occurring inside the mouth. The appearance of the sore can be disturbing and the painful and burning effect it causes may hardly be endurable. Despite the size, canker sores impair your ability to chew and in severe cases, to gulp food and to open and close the mouth. Inside the mouth, a canker sore may appear under your tongue, near the gum, or on the inside of the cheeks and lips.
Early symptoms of canker sores
Knowing early symptoms of each health problem will be helpful in determining the most suitable, earliest treatments or medications to speed up the healing process. This includes the case of canker sore. Before appearing as an opened, shallow white or yellow wound inside your mouth, a canker sore firstly appears as a small red bump, which is painful and sore. During this early infection, you usually feel tingle or burn in the affected area. After several days, this red bump turns into the opened wound with a red border, which is very painful and may affect your ability to chew the food well. The good news is different from cold sores, canker sores are not contagious. Another difference is that cold sores occur outside of the mouth, while canker sores appear inside the mouth.
Can a canker sore be popped?
Both cold sores and canker sores cause inflammation at your oral area. Hence, some people are trying to reduce this inflammation by trying to pop the inflamed canker sore. However, as of cold sore, popping canker sores is not medically advised. You should never try to pop any canker sore, as compared to cold sores, canker sores appear as a form of an ulcer, so that there is nothing to be pop, as a matter of fact.
Attempting to pop the infected area will only cause more pain, which is already excessive. As the sore may also contain virus and bacteria, popping it may lead to further infection and thus, delayed healing process. Moreover, in most cases, a canker sore is an open wound inside your mouth, so that they cannot be physically popped.
If you insist on popping a canker sore, you will experience very excruciating pain, as left alone, this oral wound has been really painful. In addition to popping the open wound, people suffering from this sore may also have the urge to “touch” the whitish wound with their tongue, which is also not advisable, as your tongue may contain bacteria that may infest the wound site, causing more problems.
As a canker sore is an open wound, you might not be able to pop it. However, there are chances you may accidentally “enlarge” the wounded area when brushing your teeth, eating, or even opening your mouth to speak. Although these are not included to that of “popping” category, they may also worsen the wound and thus, slow down the healing process. Harsh “accidents” can also lead to wound bleeding. Touching an already-closed canker sore with your tongue, in addition, can cause it to reopen and brings back the inflammation and pain.
What to do to reduce the inflammation?
If canker sores appear as an open wound and therefore, cannot be popped, what can be done to reduce the inflammation? In fact, there are some remedies, treatments, and medications to help relieving the pain caused by canker sores, although the pain commonly subsides within days without certain medications.
Canker sores are not very serious open wound, yet they, in some cases, are the indication of the occurrence of bigger health problems or infections. Despite this, they are really painful, so that for many people suffering from this problem, relieving the pain becomes the more important thing.
Canker sores usually occur as a result of trauma of the tissues, such as from biting on the lips, hormonal changes, nutrient deficiency, or weakened immune system. Some remedies are believed to be able to help relieve the caused pain and promote faster healing process—which usually takes 7 to 10 days. These remedies help reducing the discomfort and fortunately, involve affordable ingredients around the house.
1. A lot of vitamin C
Canker sore, based on recent studies, is not necessarily caused by lack of vitamin C. However, deficient vitamin C in your body does weaken your immune system, which can be a leading trigger of canker sore formation. Vitamin C will strengthen your immune system and hence, speed up the healing process.
Orange juices and yellow and orange-colored fruits provide sufficient vitamin C that is good to be consumed during the infection.
2. Mouthwash
Mouthwash is also known to help relieve the pain and sore from canker sores. It contains ingredients that kill infesting bacteria. Gargling with mouthwash does relieve the pain but however, it may also kill healthy tissues around the infested area. Thus, this remedy should not be used at all time.
3. Topical solution or ointment
Some topical medications are able to numb the open wound from canker sore and thus, significantly reduce the pain. Ones contain ambisol can be tried as a quick relief for excruciating canker sore.
4. Ice cube rubbing
Severe pain caused by canker sore can also be relieved by rubbing an ice cube gently onto the affected area. Make sure you do not hold the ice cube too long over the open wound as it may damage the tissues. Rinsing the mouth with water ice is also helpful to promote less pain. Only does this remedy whenever the pain is unbearable, as frequent ice rubbing may cause numbness of the surrounding area of the mouth lining.
Canker sore is the loss of erosion of the tissues of the sensitive lining of the mucous membrane of the mouth. This is in fact, a frequent oral problem and may be experienced by the majority of people. In most common cases, canker sores will disappear without requiring medical treatments and medications. The open wound commonly subside within 10 days and so longer infection may need attention, as it may be a sign of other oral problems.
Although canker sores do not require any medical treatments or medications, its appearance does impair your ability to speak and eat, which causes a lot of discomfort. Hence, it is really important to make sure you are doing daily practices which help preventing the appearance of canker sore, such as rinsing your mouth after eating and drinking, keeping the oral area clean by regular tooth brushing and mouth washing, and strengthen your immune system by planning your diet well.
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