Canker Sore Remedies

To cure a canker sore, dip a Q-Tip in Pepto Bismol. Place Q-Tip directly on sore. It is very cool and soothing and will heal the sore within a day or two. It is safe to swallow any excess Pepto or you can spit it out, but it's better to swallow it because chances are your stomach is or has been upset too and the Pepto will help it, too.

You can even use the Generic Pepto from Dollar General or Wal-mart. You may need to repeat this two to three times a day. Usually by the second day, it's not sore anymore.

Source: I am a retired nurse and one day I tried it because I have always used Pepto-Bismol for stomach upsets.

By Pat from IL from Illinois

Answers:

Canker Sore Remedies

As a dietitian, I am a firm believer in that most of our health problems stem from what we ingest. I have always suffered from (what I thought) was sporadic flare-ups of canker sores. I have heard numerous theories about what causes them and so I never really tried to connect the dots with food until recently. I figured since everything else was out of my control (like viruses, genetics, etc) then maybe, just maybe, I had been doing it to myself, so I decided to keep a food diary for 1 year.

Also, every time a canker sore began to appear, I noted it in the food diary. It actually didn't take very long before I noticed strong correlations between my flare-ups and certain thing I had eaten within the past few days!

There were 2 specific things that, if eaten/ingested, almost always seemed to be followed by canker sores: alcohol and anything tomato related. So I decided to test this correlation by first removing alcohol entirely from my diet for 3 months. Nothing changed. I still had flare-ups at least once a month like I had always had.

Here is where things got interesting. I turned my focus toward tomatoes and anything with tomatoes in it. This was very difficult for me because I love tomatoes, and I put ketchup on many things. However, I dedicated myself to this big task and began another 3 month test. No tomato slices, no ketchup, no red pasta sauce, etc.

The difference was noticeable almost immediately. After just a couple of days, I noticed that my gums felt "less sensitive" to the touch. I never even knew this was abnormal because they had always felt sensitive, but suddenly they felt better!?

I knew I was on to something at this point and I have continued this difficult elimination even beyond the 3 months. I have now gone 7 months without anything tomato-related in my diet and I have since had just 1 canker sore! Also, I got the sore when I caught a nasty head cold about a month ago.

I never would have considered something as healthy for you as a tomato as the source of what had made my life miserable since childhood. Whether it is the acidity or something else that my body just has trouble with, I'm not entirely sure. It could be a weird food allergy, but all I know is that I found the trigger for my life-long problem with canker sores and eliminating it from my diet has helped me tremendously.

I can't guarantee that it will be the same for you, but I encourage everyone who has issues with these pesky sores to look into removing all things tomato from your diet for a while and see if your flare-ups reduce. It was very difficult to totally eliminate tomato since it is in so many products, but if you watch your diet closely it gets easier. It has helped me tremendously so I hope it helps you too. (02/16/2010)

By JT

Canker Sore Remedies

I find drinking pineapple juice is good for all mouth sores. (03/17/2010)

By Judith Ardis