Mouth Ulcers

Poppy9

abbecer wrote:

I've not done it myself but i have read several times that you should compress a cold used teabag against it. Don't know why it works, but apparently it does!! Hope this helps.

Rebecca x :rotfl:

I suspect something to do with the Tannin (sp?) as it's also useful to put cold tea onto sunburn to take the sting out of it.

Toothsmith

Mouth ulcers are to dentistry what the common cold is to medicine. An annoying little !!!!!! that's far mor complex than it first appears!

The most common time to become prone to mouth ulcers is during times of hormonal change/imbalance. For us blokes, that's really only puberty and adolesence. For women, you can add pregnancy, menstrual cycle and (less common) menopause.

Judging by what teeth you said your daughter had lost Poppy, I would bet it's the first signs of puberty causing her ulcers, nothing more sinister.

Other factors in their appearence (I hesitate to call them causes, as they don't always appear with these things) are Vit B deficiency, Vit C deficiency (I bet Ted would link Vit D as well - certainly possible!) Iron deficiency, poor oral hygine, smoking, sharp/broken/crooked teeth (But the teeth would have to be very crooked, and possibly poor oral hygiene as well),bowel problems (as previously mentioned by someone else) overuse of NSAIDs (Ibuprofen & aspirin) but this would be very long term overuse, drug abuse, AIDS.

As I said though, your daughter is most likely pre-pubecent.

For 'cures' there really ain't much!

Salty mouthwashes are mildly antiseptic and can help, although they can sting like the devil on a ripe one, I'm not a big fan of other antiseptic mouthwashes as they can upset the natural flora of the mouth (The good bugs) and possibly then lead to more ulcers.

There is a good product called Difflam, which is an anaesthetic mouthwash and can make things more comfortable to eat/clean teeth/get to sleep. The mouthwash is best if there are multiple ulcers, there is a spray with a directional straw for use with single ulcers. Off the top of my head, I think this is only available for kids above 12 though.

For younger kids, Calgel is a good topical anaesthetic, and Bongela has it's uses, although I prefer Calgel.

There are various coating gels you can get as well, such as Orabase. But these are really fiddly to apply successfully, and often get washed off, or rubbed off before it can set.

Antibiotics should never be prescribed systemically (To be taken as tablets/medicine) for ulcers, although sometimes doctors do (That's the problem of only having 2 hour long lectures on mouth problems in their training!) Sometimes, an antibiotic mouthwash can help, but this is in rare instances.

For patients with real mega - bother from them, steroids can be prescribed, but that has it's own problems as well.

Neither, I'm afraid Poppy, should painkiller tablets be 'rubbed on'. Ibuprofen won't do much harm, but if it were an aspirin you tried, it could have caused a nasty acid burn. Painkillers work on the brain to reduce pain, not the site of the pain.

The bottom line is that treated, an ulcer will last for seven days, untreated, it will be gone in a week!

the best you can do is to make it more comfortable for the few days it is really ripe and sore.

If anyone has an ulcer for more than a fortnight, go and see your dentist. Oral cancers are relatively rare things, but they do exist and are becoming more common. If caught early, the 5 year survival rates are above 95%. If not caught early, they are less than 50%.

Hope this is helpful.

Poppy9

Toothsmith wrote:

Other factors ........ smoking,

I've been telling her for ages to give up the fags:rotfl:

Toothsmith wrote:

For younger kids, Calgel is a good topical anaesthetic

I will get some of this tomorrow as she is struggling to eat.

Toothsmith wrote:

Neither, I'm afraid Poppy, should painkiller tablets be 'rubbed on'. Ibuprofen won't do much harm, but if it were an aspirin you tried, it could have caused a nasty acid burn. Painkillers work on the brain to reduce pain, not the site of the pain.

It was syrup. She has a bit of an issue with tablets and can only swallow the very small clarityn. I thought it might work directly a bit like the Ibuprofen creme I use on my back (no - I wouldn't put that in her mouth:eek: ).

Toothsmith wrote:

Hope this is helpful.

Yes thanks.

Ps I know puberty is looming as she has blackhead and moods, didn't realise it could trigger mouth ulcers though.

italiastar

Andybez38 wrote:

Just get her to dab a bit of salt into it. :eek: Stings like hell but repeat every now and then. It has always got rid of mine and quiet quickly.

I use a slice of lemon - again hurts like hell, but works.

Nicki

I went through a phase of bad mouth ulcers linked to crohn's disease, and chemist told me the best thing for them was Boots sore mouth gel (yes this was in Boots!). I did find it much more effective than Bongela, and much cheaper too. Things like salt gargles and TCP only hurt like mad, and made no difference to the healing time.

robnye

i have used,
rubbing the ulcer with some fresh garlic..... again it stings for a little while, but it does work

ensuring teeth are cleaned properly........ (touchy subject - with pubescent children - i know i've got 3 daughters)

sore mouth gel...... various, try the shop store make...... i think it can be used frequently.

Savvy_Sue

I was going to say that there are things the GP can prescribe other than antibiotics, but after Toothsmith's lecture there's really no need! I had a very bad one and had cortisone tablets which I had to place against it, tasted absolutely vile! Best thing I find is Anbesol, from the pharmacy. But it may be a case of 'suck it and see' with a few things like that!

Poppy9

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Best thing I find is Anbesol, from the pharmacy.

Bought this for her yesterday. It helps her get through meal times. Hopefully it should start healing soon. Luckily she's not complaining when brushing her teeth and is still flossing the area it's just meal times.

Ted_Hutchinson

It may be worth boosting her immune system to reduce the chances of repeat ulcers.

Getting plenty of sunshine, at least the equivalent of 20 minutes full body exposure every day, will top up the vitamin d and this certainly helps with inflamation in the mouth and if she keeps up regular (non burning) exposure to sun at least until she's 19, this will reduce her chances of breast cancer in later life by 40%.

Zinc levels could be low and it wouldn't do any harm to use vitamin c and zinc tablets (aldi's are cheap). Boosting vitamin c by eating plenty of fruit and veg will help. The half life of vitamin c in the body is only around 30mins so it's best taken in small amounts every couple of hours (the 1g tablets can easily be snapped in half or even quartered) or use the slow release forms.
See also Do you get recurrent mouth ulcers?

Poppy9

Thanks Ted. She gets her sunshine allowance easily (especially the last week or so with this glorious weather). I also give her a decent multi vit/mineral tablet a day as she suffers with hayfever and I find it helps. In addition to this she has an Omega 3 oil tablet to stop a recurrance of Excema. Fresh fruit and veg intake is good. School banned junk a few years ago so it makes it easier to increase fruit/veg intake with breaktime snacks of these items. Also generally only drinks water throughout the day as fizzy drinks are for birthday and Xmas only (unless out for a meal).

Luckily she is a generally fit and healthy child so I guess it's either a virus that's triggered off the mouth ulcer (sick bug going around the school for last couple of weeks but she has avoided) or her hormones.

Today she has said that the pain is easing and the white head of the ulcer has gone (just a red raised lump left) so if she doesn' t eat her food tonight then it must be my cooking!!