Canker Sore
One recurring issue that I have are these canker sores that keep popping up in my mouth. It always starts when I bite myself on the inside of the cheek or tongue. I notice nothing until the end of the first week when that small cut in my mouth turns into a nice sized sore, bright white, indented, and extremely painful. This carries on for over a week while I try my best to eat foods without touching that part of my mouth. Eventually the area will stop being painful and I can eat (and talk) normally while the sore finally completes healing.
I do practice good oral hygiene: I brush my teeth twice a day, floss daily and even scrape my tongue. But these oral habits do not seem to be enough to prevent the sores from forming every time I cut myself in my mouth.
The worst one yet occurred last last month. I had bitten the bottom of my tongue somehow, but I completely forgot about it. Just before we left for the Dominican Republic, I started noticing an annoying stinging sensation whenever I talked or ate from the bottom right side of my tongue. By the time we were in the Dominican, eating was incredibly difficult and I was not really able to enjoy some of the food while I was down there. (Although most of the food there I would classify as "meh".)
When we got back from our trip, the sore had not gone away. In fact it had grown. It was getting closer to 10mm in length and I decided to do something about it. I picked up some ORALMEDIC® Barrier Solution from the drug store and decided to try it out. I chose this product because it claimed that it only one application was required to deal with the sore. I like use and forget items. The other reason why I chose it was because most of the other products required the affected area to be dried, and kept dry for thirty seconds while the medication was being applied. The bottom of the tongue is not a dry place, and does not stay dry. In addition, the size of the sore made some of those applications a little difficult.
In any case, I got home and tried it out. I had to dry the affected area with a cotton swab. That was painful, and difficult because I my saliva was trying to pool to that area. I had to twist my tongue and head in such a manner so that any saliva that was being produced would not pool there and would not even migrate through that area to wherever gravity was taking it. It was not a pretty sight.
I had to dry the area twice, which made it twice as painful. Once I felt fairly confident that the area was more-or-less dry, I applied the medication.
The only reason why I did not end up triggering some sort of response from condo security was because I was forcing my tongue not to move, and it was blocking my throat, which muffled most of the screaming that was coming from it. On top of that, my saliva glands went into automatic flush mode: I did not realize how much saliva one could generate but I was sure I would dehydrate myself pretty quickly the way that water was pouring out of my mouth.
I tried my best to hold the swab in place for as long as possible, but the situation quickly became untenable when my mouth began to overflow with saliva. I quickly rinsed out my mouth and checked the sore. It looked a bit whiter, but a part of my tongue that was accidentally touched by the medication was also looking a little pasty. The pain on the other hand, had turned from a sharp sting to a dull ache. In fact, after testing out my newly medicated tongue, things did feel much better! I was able to cover the entire sore, and dinner tasted so much better!
Since that incident I have vowed never to let any cuts or scrapes in my mouth turn into full canker sores ever again. I've had numerous people tell me that rinsing with salt water helps a lot, but I decided to try mouthwash instead. I had a bottle of Listerine that I have been holding off on using, and decided to run an experiment.
Days after I had medicated my tongue, I bit myself again on my bottom lip. (Yes, it does happen quite often.) This time in addition to my regular oral cleansing, I also rinsed my mouth with mouthwash for thirty seconds twice a day. I shall continue doing this until the sore is healed.
It has been nearly two weeks since I bit my lip and my sore is nearly healed. I have barely noticed it during this process. Normally, it would take twice as long to heal and be annoyingly painful for half of that time. It seems like Listerine is a winner. Next up: saline solution.
I do practice good oral hygiene: I brush my teeth twice a day, floss daily and even scrape my tongue. But these oral habits do not seem to be enough to prevent the sores from forming every time I cut myself in my mouth.
The worst one yet occurred last last month. I had bitten the bottom of my tongue somehow, but I completely forgot about it. Just before we left for the Dominican Republic, I started noticing an annoying stinging sensation whenever I talked or ate from the bottom right side of my tongue. By the time we were in the Dominican, eating was incredibly difficult and I was not really able to enjoy some of the food while I was down there. (Although most of the food there I would classify as "meh".)
When we got back from our trip, the sore had not gone away. In fact it had grown. It was getting closer to 10mm in length and I decided to do something about it. I picked up some ORALMEDIC® Barrier Solution from the drug store and decided to try it out. I chose this product because it claimed that it only one application was required to deal with the sore. I like use and forget items. The other reason why I chose it was because most of the other products required the affected area to be dried, and kept dry for thirty seconds while the medication was being applied. The bottom of the tongue is not a dry place, and does not stay dry. In addition, the size of the sore made some of those applications a little difficult.
In any case, I got home and tried it out. I had to dry the affected area with a cotton swab. That was painful, and difficult because I my saliva was trying to pool to that area. I had to twist my tongue and head in such a manner so that any saliva that was being produced would not pool there and would not even migrate through that area to wherever gravity was taking it. It was not a pretty sight.
I had to dry the area twice, which made it twice as painful. Once I felt fairly confident that the area was more-or-less dry, I applied the medication.
The only reason why I did not end up triggering some sort of response from condo security was because I was forcing my tongue not to move, and it was blocking my throat, which muffled most of the screaming that was coming from it. On top of that, my saliva glands went into automatic flush mode: I did not realize how much saliva one could generate but I was sure I would dehydrate myself pretty quickly the way that water was pouring out of my mouth.
I tried my best to hold the swab in place for as long as possible, but the situation quickly became untenable when my mouth began to overflow with saliva. I quickly rinsed out my mouth and checked the sore. It looked a bit whiter, but a part of my tongue that was accidentally touched by the medication was also looking a little pasty. The pain on the other hand, had turned from a sharp sting to a dull ache. In fact, after testing out my newly medicated tongue, things did feel much better! I was able to cover the entire sore, and dinner tasted so much better!
Since that incident I have vowed never to let any cuts or scrapes in my mouth turn into full canker sores ever again. I've had numerous people tell me that rinsing with salt water helps a lot, but I decided to try mouthwash instead. I had a bottle of Listerine that I have been holding off on using, and decided to run an experiment.
Days after I had medicated my tongue, I bit myself again on my bottom lip. (Yes, it does happen quite often.) This time in addition to my regular oral cleansing, I also rinsed my mouth with mouthwash for thirty seconds twice a day. I shall continue doing this until the sore is healed.
It has been nearly two weeks since I bit my lip and my sore is nearly healed. I have barely noticed it during this process. Normally, it would take twice as long to heal and be annoyingly painful for half of that time. It seems like Listerine is a winner. Next up: saline solution.
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