As a long term San Antonio dentist, I get all kinds of questions. One thing that dental patients sometime ask about is canker sores.
Aphthous ulcers, or canker sores, is an autoimmune disorder that has many poorly understood triggering factors that are different from patient to patient; thus no product or technique is universally effective on all patients.
Prevention is key when it comes to decreasing the recurrence, duration and severity of a canker sore outbreak:
  1. Avoid abrasive foods such as nuts, potato chips, hard candy and pretzels
  2. Avoid triggering foods such as chocolates, beer and acidic foods
  3. Avoid dental products with sodium lauryl sulfate
    1. Biotene and Rembrandt are two products that don’t contain this ingredient
  4. Listerine mouthwash is recommended for prevention, but not for treatment because the alcohol will burn the lesion
  5. Reduce trauma to the oral tissues
    1. Toothbrush trauma
    2. Cheek biting
    3. Chewing pen caps
  6. Reduce stress
For relief, apply benzocaine to the area and take an allergy medicine, such as Benadryl. If the canker sores persist for over two weeks, call your San Antonio dentist Dr. John Moore for further evaluation.