It’s no secret that at least everyone has gotten a few canker sores in their lifetime. Have you ever had that period of time where you just cannot seem to get rid of a canker sore? Or you just keep getting them? Well, as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog, I was an orthodontic patient for 3 years. If you’ve ever had braces, you know the drill with the canker sores. Your braces just love to cut you, and canker sores just LOVE to appear everywhere they possibly can. I was so annoyed with my mouth, that I tried every possible way I could to get rid of them. Allow me to walk you through my journey of canker sore relief.

To start, canker sores are small lesions that develop on the soft tissues in your mouth, or at the base of your gums. You can have 2 different types of canker sores; simple, or complex. Simple canker sores may appear three or four times a year and last up to a week. Complex canker sores are less common than simple, and occur more often in people who have previously had them. Unlike cold sores, canker sores are not contagious. A lot of people confuse canker sores with cold sores when in reality, they are very different. The exact cause of a canker sore is unknown, while some say that it could be caused b stress, or injury to your tissue in your mouth. So for example, if you were a cheek biter and lip biter like I was, canker sores will come very easily to your mouth. The constant chewing damages the tissue, leaving room for canker sores to “grow.”

When I was younger, I remember getting the occasional canker sore here and there, nothing big. I would wait for a few days, they would go away. But, when I had my braces put on, it was like I was getting a new canker sore every other day! It was awful. I wasn’t just getting them on my gums, or cheeks, but I was also getting them on my tongue. I tried everything. I went to Walgreens and got every canker sore cream they owned. Nothing would ever help me. I tried everything from orajel, to canker care. It would relieve them, and make them smaller, but I would feel like they would never heel, or new ones would always be sprouting different places in my mouth. I finally made the trip to my dentist after I couldn’t stand them anymore. This was when I had braces, so it’s really hard to clean the gum tissue around my braces. And it was also really hard for me to clean the food out of my teeth really well, which was also part of the problem. When I would eat acidic food, it would stay in my teeth, and because my cheeks would always be damaged due to the braces, it would result in canker sores…everywhere. Well, I started to change my diet, be more thorough with my cleaning, and floss. What do you know? My canker sores started becoming less and less! It was amazing, I was so happy. Doing a really detailed job on cleaning my teeth have now become a habit I never intend to break.

My canker sore journey doesn’t end there, even after my braces were off, I continued to get canker sores. I was furious! I marched right back to Walgreens and started from square 1. All of those creams and gels still did nothing for me. I didn’t want to go to my doctor again, knowing he would just tell me the same thing again. I decided to take matters into my own hands. I started to Google things, and tried all of these ridiculous home remedies….until I found one remedy that was no longer ridiculous. Are you ready for it? Warm salt water. Who knew? It worked miracles. I would swish warm salt water in my mouth twice a day, and within one day, I was feeling the canker sores go down, and I had little pain, and I was able to eat salty things again. After about 3 days of warm salt water, my mouth was canker sore free. I was one happy lady. It just blew my mind that the simplest of things helped me so much. This is what I recommend to everyone out there suffering from canker sores. The salt helps fight the infection and the pain, and inflammation, whereas the warm water helps ease the pain.

Every time I feel a canker sore coming on, I grab that salt water, and gargle and I’m feeling better the next day. It is the only thing I trust when it comes to my canker sores! I recommend it to everyone who has the same problem as I do.