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Mouth Sores, Their Types, and Removal |
A mouth sore is a skin lesion, wound, or ulcer in the mouth. Mouth sores can occur in the inner cheeks, on lips, or on the palate.
Reasons for the appearance of mouth sores include inadvertent biting of inner cheek, tongue, or lip. Chewing tobacco, wearing teeth braces, poor fitting dentures, and mouth burning due to eating hot food or sipping a hot drink, bacteria, a fungal or viral infection, or a broken tooth can all contribute towards mouth sores.
The various types of mouth sores include cold sores, canker sores, leukoplakia, oral lichen planus, candidiasis, Behcet’s syndrome, lupus, oral thrush, and hairy tongue. Cold sores are also known as fever blisters.
The herpes simplex virus is responsible for the occurrence of cold sores in the mouth. Cold sores are highly contagious and occur outside the mouth.
Even before a cold sore appears, tingling, burning, or tenderness in and around the region of the cold sore will be felt. The herpes simplex virus lies dormant in a body for a long duration. Cold sores appear when factors such as fever, hormonal changes, stress, and exposure to the Sun may activate the herpes simplex virus. A cold sore first appears as a blister and then a crust is formed over it.
A canker sore appears as a yellowish ulcer, with a red outer ring, or as a group of such ulcers inside the mouth. Canker sores are not contagious. The etiology of canker sores is still not well defined. It appears that canker sores may be caused due to a virus, stress, low levels of Vitamin B12 or folate, hormonal changes, a temporary incapacity of the immune defense system resulting from flu or a cold, or due to mechanical irritation
Mouth sores affect eating besides being ugly to look at. They also can affect smiling.
The lifecycle of mouth sores is usually from ten to fourteen days. They may last for six weeks. Home care remedies for mouth sores include eating popsicles or a cold water gargle, avoiding hot foods and drinks, avoiding salty or spicy foods, and avoiding citrus fruits, and taking acetaminophen, which is a pain reliever.
Remedies for canker sores include applying a thin paste of baking soda mixed with water, applying a mixture of a 1:1 mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water to the lesions. Campho-Phenique or Blistex are used to provide relief in the initial stages of cold sores and canker sores. Applying ice or taking L-lysine tablets may help in the case of cold sores.
A qualified doctor needs to be contacted if a sore appears after taking some new medication, or white patches are noticed on the roof of the mouth or on the tongue, or if a mouth sore does not subside even after a fortnight, if symptoms such as fever, drooling, skin rash, or difficulty in swallowing are observed, or if the immune system of the body is irrevocably compromised due to cancer or HIV. |
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