Ooh, yuck: relief for aphthous ulcers
I've had a life-long problem with painful mouth sores, and I'm sure you
want to hear all about it. No? Well, then this is for all the
Googlers out there with the same problem. The rest of you can skip
it.
After years of wondering whether I had some dreaded social disease,
I've been assured by several dental and medical professionals that what
I have are aphthous
ulcers. They are a somewhat mysterious, non-contagious
auto-immune problem: sometimes the mucous membranes in my mouth fight
with themselves, resulting in a sore that takes a while to heal.
Several things seem to aggravate them, including stress and certain
foods, but the usual trigger is trauma -- a bump, or biting my cheek,
or a visit to the dentist. Like this month when I had a root canal
done, and ulcers sprang up wherever the dentist's tools abraded my
mouth, putting raw sores in a strategic location to be irritated by the
stubs of the sutures in my gum. Ow!
I've tried every over-the-counter and prescription remedy I could
find. Three things seem to help:
- Rembrandt
Canker Relief Gel. Actually, any over-the-counter
benzocaine-based ointment provides temporary relief, but this one works
the best for me. Unfortunately the Rembrandt soothing mouthwash didn't
do much, nor did their special toothpaste. (Uh-oh -- this item seems to
be sold out everywhere and is no longer listed at the Rembrandt site -- don't tell me
they've discontinued it!)
- Chlorhexidine
gluconate oral rinse. Doesn't provide a quick fix, but a
couple of days of rinsing with this stuff seems to make the sores heal
up. It's said to turn your teeth brown if you use it too often, but
the real downside is that it messes up your taste perception so
everything tastes awful for several hours after you use it. (Maybe it
would work for weight loss. :-) )
- Debacterol.
"Sulphuric acid and sulfonated phenolics in aqueous solution" -- this
is the elephant gun, to use when a sore is in an especially painful
place and I can't stand it. Basically it cauterizes the exposed tissue
so the sore is still there but no longer feeling pain. I'm not sure
I'm supposed to have this stuff; the product literature is all aimed at
dentists (I scored my little bottle from a dental assistant). It seems
potentially quite dangerous if I get it in an eye or some other
vulnerable spot, so I use it with extreme caution.
There you have it. Let us all pray for a cure before I post again.
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