so you're sitting there trying to eat
your breakfast burrito but this thing
inside your lip hurts every time you
take a bite then you go for a swig of
orange juice and it stings so much that
your eyes start to water that's life
with a canker sore technically called an
afta sulser once you have one you're
pretty much stuck with it for the next
week or so but there are some things you
can do to try to prevent canker sores in
the first place and there are ways to
make them hurt less and maybe even heal
faster to be clear we're not talking
about cold sores here the bumps you
might get on your lips outside your
mouth those are caused by a viral
infection instead the AFT this ulcers
are basically little abrasions inside
your mouth they're often caused by
something that irritates a spot like
braces or dentures rubbing against your
cheek or acidic or spicy foods but there
are other factors involved too studies
have shown that when people are
especially stressed they tend to get
more canker sores possibly because the
hormones your body releases when you're
stressed can trigger inflammation and
nutritional deficiencies like if you're
not getting enough iron or vitamin b12
can thin the cell layers lining your
mouth leading to more canker sores and
then there are the unlucky folks who
have recurrent aphthous stomatitis or
ras which basically means that they have
extra painful canker sores that keep
reappearing researchers aren't totally
sure why people get ras but it might
have to do with genetics or higher
stress levels so to try to prevent
canker sores you can avoid spicy foods
and be careful with anything sharp or
poke in your mouth like braces but
there's no guarantee that you won't get
one anyway the good news is there are
things dentists recommend trying to make
a canker sore less painful while it
heals you can buy treatments with a
chemical called benzocaine which
interacts with your nerve endings to
numbness or so it doesn't hurt when you
chew you can also rinse your mouth with
some diluted hydrogen peroxide which
will burn like the Sun but will kill off
bacteria that might infect the canker
sore and make it stick around longer and
prescription medications with a steroid
called fluid sinan ID can make the
canker sore heal faster and interact
with your immune system to bring down
swelling for tougher cases like Ras
doctors can prescribe stronger meds like
other steroids or antibiotics they come
with stronger side effects but have been
shown to reduce the number of canker
sores people get and make the ones they
do get less painful the next time you
get one of these annoying painful things
just remember there is hope thanks for
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