Mouth Ulcer (Mouth Sore): Causes, Treatment and Prevention

Mouth ulcer or everyday term “Mouth sore” is the common illness in the human’s life. It is usually harmless yet annoying and disturbing. What are the causes of mouth ulcer? How to treat it? Can it be prevented?

According to WebMD (http://www.webmd.boots.com/oral-health/guide/mouth-ulcers), there are 3 types of mouth ulcer:

• Minor ulcer: it is usually around 2-8mm in diameter and usually clear up in 10 days to 2 weeks.
• Major ulcer: it is bigger and deeper, often with a raised or irregular border. This type of ulcer can take several weeks to heal and may leave a scar in the mouth.
• Hypertiform ulcer: This type of ulcer is a cluster of dozens of smaller sores the size of pinheads.

Cause of mouth ulcer:

There are no sources claiming the exact causes of mouth ulcer. However, it is believed that stress or tissue injury are the main causes. Unhealthy food such as citrus or acidic fruits and vegetables) is also the possible causes as well. All in all, there could be 4 possible causes:

1. -          Stress
2. -          Not enough sleep
3. -          Lack of Vitamin B
4. -          Unhealthy food

Treatment:

Mouth ulcer usually get healed by itself within the period of time depending on how big it is. However, it may cause patients to feel uncomfortable and hurt resulting too difficult to eat and drink.

Based on my experience, I usually gargle (do not swallow) the salty warm water 3 times per day and longest a week, it will help relieve the pain and get recover soon.Yet, if you cannot stand with the pain or the ulcer is really big, you should go to meet doctor.

Prevention:

We can prevent mouth ulcer, though not 100% guarantee. Eat healthy food, sleep enough, spend time to relax when you feel stress, and take Vitamin B (as recommended from Doctor) regularly. Doing exercise or meditation also help to reduce the chance to have mouth ulcer as well.