Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, ARNP, EdD

What are canker sores?

Canker sores may be preceded by burning and tingling sensations. Canker sores are small, painful ulcers you may find on your tongue, lips, gums or insides of your cheeks. They begin as red, ulcerated spots with a yellowish border. (They have no blisters like cold sores or fever blisters do.)

Canker sores can be small as a pinhead or large as a quarter. As they grow, they become covered by fluids, bacteria and white blood cells. They last from four to twenty days.

What causes canker sores?

Canker sores can be triggered by poor dental hygiene, irritation from dental work, food allergies, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, viral infection, trauma (biting the inside of your mouth), stress and/or fatigue. They may be associated with a bowel upset. Deficiencies of iron, lysine, vitamin 12, and folic acid have been linked to canker sores in some people.

What can you do to prevent or heal canker sores?

Here are some ways to prevent and/or heal canker sores...

* Take acidophilus capsules (health food stores) as directed on bottle to maintain healthy bacteria in your digestive track.

* Take 500 mg L-Lysine (a building block of protein) 3 times a day on an empty stomach with water or juice, not milk, For better absorption, take it with 50 mg B-complex capsule and 100 mg vitamin C. The vitamins B and C will also help reduce stress; together they can be found in drugstores, supermarkets and health food stores and are often labeled, stresstabs.

* Take 3 garlic (Kyolic) capsules (won't make you smell like garlic), 3 times a day; garlic is a natural antibiotic. Use garlic powder in cooking, too, if you don't mind garlic breath.

* Take a multimineral (not a multi-vitamin, although that would be helpful, too; check at your health food store). Try to find one without iron because it is next to impossible to absorb. Get your iron from cooking in iron pots and from food: green leafy vegetables, eggs, whole grain breads and cereals, almonds, avocados, beets, blackstrap molasses, dates, kidney and lima beans, lentils, millet, peaches, pears, prunes, pumpkin, raisins, sesame seeds, doybeans and watercress. You can also use kelp (from seaweed has all the minerals in a balanced state) to season your food.

* Red raspberry tea (health food store item) also helps with some canker sores.

* Eat plenty of salads with raw onion. (Onions contain sulfur that has healing properties).

* Avoid sugar, citrus fruits and processed and refined foods.

* Avoid fish or meat for two weeks (eat soy products such as tofu, tempeh, soy nuts, soy cheese, soy meats; beans and rice; or eggs for protein ). Animal protein increases your body's acidity, which slows healing.

* Wash your toothbrush in hot soapy water and rinse after using it. Replace your brush with a new one once the ulcer is gone.

* Use stress reduction measures to reduce your stress. (See suggested articles/links to the upper right of this article).

This article is for information purposes only. If you have a sore that does not heal after 20 days, see your health care practitioner or dentist.