In this week's video we are looking at canker sores and the truth is one in five of us have
probably had a canker sore at some point in our lifetime now if you're watching this video and
you're thinking what on earth is a canker sore well if you're here in the uk we call them mouth
horses so what we're gonna learn is we're going to learn about canker sore treatments
or mouth ulcer treatments if you want to call it that and you're going to learn how to get rid of
those canker sores because i know they're uncomfortable and painful so this is going
to be the video you need to watch so welcome to my channel if you haven't been here before
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lastly before we begin please remember all of my videos are chaptered so if at any point you want
to find any specific piece of information then feel free to click on that description and click
on the relevant chapter okay so let's begin with the basics first of all what is a canker saw well
the canker saw is a small little ulceration that usually happens within the mouth cavity it can be
anywhere along the gums it can even sometimes be on the tongue and they're usually a small little
ulcer like i said and they're usually white or grey in appearance they can be incredibly painful
however and that's probably the worst thing about canker sores most people get them like i said one
in fivers will get a canker sore at some point in our lifetime it's not usually a sign of any
health conditions or you being unhealthy anybody can get them however if you are getting continuous
canker sores and it's happening constantly and constantly sometimes this can be really related
to certain autoimmune conditions for example crohn's is one of them but autoimmune conditions
can sometimes increase the risk of getting canker sores so please do bear that in mind now i'm sure
you'll be relieved to know that canker sores cannot be spread so they're not infectious it's
not like the herpes simplex virus like cold sores that you can spread it to other people
from kissing or anything like that however it is always good to bear in mind that it's difficult
to tell sometimes it might not be a chemical it might actually be a cold sore or something else
so until it's fully relieved it's probably best off just to stay away from kissing and all that
sort of stuff just to prevent it from spreading just in case it's not a canker sore if that
makes sense okay so background done now let's get straight into it let's start with tip number one
on what you need to do for canker sore treatment how to get rid of mouth horses cancers whatever
you want to call it tip number one it's going to be my easiest tip that everyone can do at home
i'm going to start with these tips to begin with actually home sort of treatments that we can do
and then we'll talk about medicines and stuff like that that you probably have to go out and buy
so tip number one you need to make yourself a saltwater rinse okay or a saltwater mouthwash
this is going to be really good at reducing the inflammation in the area and also preventing
it reducing the risk of it getting infected or getting any worse to be quite honest with you so
to make it it's really simple boil the kettle let the water cool then get yourself a mug or a glass
or anything like that put yourself a teaspoon of salt you can put half a teaspoon of salt you can
put a teaspoon of salt it doesn't really make any difference whack that in pour the water in give
it a good stir and then let it cool you don't want to be doing it with boiling hot water okay
so let it cool let that salt dissolve in let it cool pop yourself over to the sink because this
is the messy bit and use it as a mouthwash okay once it's cooled rinse it around the mouth as
much as you want and spit it out okay try not to swallow it it's not gonna harm you if you
swallow it okay but try not to swallow it you don't want to be swallowing all that salt in a
in a watery solution so try and spit it all out and afterwards when it's done just give your what
your mouth a quick little rinse with water okay just to get you that salt residue out of there
this is going to give us symptomatic relief and like i said it's also going to help prevent it
prevent it to some extent from getting infected or worse or anything like that it's always good to
do it just increases the hygiene and it gives you that symptomatic relief you can do it as often as
you want okay because it's often a question i get asked from patients how often can you do it you
can do it as much as you want there's no maximum on how often you can do this so do as much as you
need for symptomatic relief but don't forget to just give it that rinse out afterwards and please
remember if you do want more information on making the saltwater rinse and all that i will explain it
more in the description below so let's move on to tip number two tip number two now we're going to
look at over-the-counter treatments for canker sores okay there are tons of different products
out there so i'm only going to go through the ones that have the most evidence supporting them okay
and in terms of otc over-the-counter treatment that's just short for otc in terms of vertices
treatment we are looking for three things really we're looking for pain relief which is probably
the main thing the next thing we'll look at is recovery time and it hopefully increasing like
or reducing the recovery time needed and thirdly possibly trying to prevent infections and it
getting any worse so that's the three things that i really want from the otc treatment and
that's what we're going to go through the best ones for doing that okay so probably one of my
favorite products that i recommend quite often to my patients for a canker sore is chlorhexidine
mouthwash i do like this one in particular because i feel like it really does help reduce the pain it
also helps to speed up that recovery time and it helps reduce the rate of infection chlorhexidine
mouthwash for example is also used for different things as well for example it's used to prevent
gingivitis gum disease that sort of stuff as well but it can be really helpful with canker sores too
so you can get this from any chemist follow the instructions on how to use it obviously speak
to your pharmacist as well other chemists just to make sure that you're safe and suitable to use it
but in terms of using it i find chlorhexidine really really strong and sometimes it can
really kind of take the taste away and your sensation of taste for at least a couple of
days until your mouth sort of gets back to normal so one way to prevent this from happening that i
like to do is it will come with a little cup i don't have a little cup to show you i'll
just show you this lens cap so imagine this is your cup what i would do is i'd fill the
the rest with chlorohex okay just some normal tap water and then use that as a mouthwash again and
follow the instructions how many times that you need to do it but it's a really effective way
of just reducing the intensity of it because it's really strong stuff so like i said as soon as you
use it you're probably going to lose your taste for a couple of days so bear that in mind if you
do my little dilution method it's going to reduce the chances of that happening quite a lot but it's
really good with with regards to canker sores now another mouthwash which is quite effective
as well as benzydomine mouthwash this is generally a lot more expensive to buy again it works similar
to chlorhexidine um it does actually taste a bit better as well and it's not as harsh in the mouth
and like i say it has similar effect to the chlorhexidine it helps speed up recovery time
and it helps with pain it can sort of help with the pain around the area and reduce
reinfection or infection so it is generally quite good i prefer chlorhexidine okay but
like i say it's personal choice that's the one that i like but some people might like
benzodiazepine that's completely fine now moving on to the next over-the-counter treatment this one
is a gel that you apply on the canker sore this one is a gel containing choline salicylate okay
there's loads of different brands that have this choline salicylate is really good at reducing the
inflammation and pain in the area so it's good at doing that um please do remember though it
can't be given to children under the age of 16. however i'm not sure you're gonna do this with
all these medications that we discussed you need to speak to your pharmacist before you get any
of these medicines okay i'm going to say a few times okay in this video but you need to speak
to your pharmacist that you can make sure that you're safe and suitable to take these medicines
i know they're over the counter treatments and you might not think they're a strong but it's really
important to do so so they can make sure you're safe and suitable to take it with any medication
you're taking already or even if you're not on any medication you might have certain allergies to
these medications that's why it's super important you speak to them and you always read the
information leaflet that comes with them okay so i feel like we're getting somewhere now we spoke
about the otc treatments as well we spoke about what you can do at home but the last otc treatment
i want to talk about is probably going to be our most hardcore treatment okay so we started down
here with the saltwater stuff and then we've been working our way up with the chlorhexidine
and the benzydomine the colonies listed probably put them all at the same level so saw what was
there the other ones were there but this one's a top one okay this one's the strongest one
and it is a steroid lozenge okay a lozenge is what we call a hard-boiled sweet for example i think i
don't think in the us they call them lozenges so we've had a few i've had a few comments i can't
speak today i've had a few comments whenever i say lozenge and people get really confused what
i'm on about but it's like a hard-boiled sweetie you suck on basically okay so you can get steroid
ones of these lozenges that you suck on you use it suck it in the mouth and obviously the
saliva spreads all over the mouth and that can be really really helpful when you've got a few
canker sores and it's super painful you know i've had patients before they've had so many canker
sores in their mouth they can barely open their mouth and i really feel for them because it is
really really painful sometimes cancer sores can can be and when you've got a patient like that the
other treatments just aren't going to touch you okay so we usually then go for steroid lozenges
that the patient sucks on and it can be really helpful at reducing the inflammation in the mouth
please remember though you will have to speak to your chemist for these these are available to
buy here in the uk they are licensed to be sold in the chemist in the uk but i'm not sure about other
countries so again speak to your chemist find out more information and also most importantly
make sure you're safe to take it so my next question for you guys is how are you finding this
video so far i hope you are finding it informative if you found any of this information helpful so
far please don't forget to click that like button like i said it's going to help the video grow
it's going to help me as well it makes me feel good when i see more lights that it's helping
people around the world so now that we've spoke about things that you can do for cancer treatment
or mouth horse treatment whatever you want to call it the next thing i want to talk about is
lifestyle advice okay because there are things you can do that one can help reduce the pain
that you're having at the moment and two can help prevent you from getting them again in the future
especially with someone who's prone to getting mouth horses or cancer sores whichever you want to
call it then you need to really listen up on this bit because there might be certain triggers that
you keep having that are actually causing it so let's begin so moving on to tip number three the
first thing i'm going to talk about is avoiding foods that can irritate the mouth also okay or
irritate the mouth so these are foods that are for example very very hot this is going to irritate it
very salty foods again it's going to irritate him acidic foods okay acidic foods can also irritate
and acidic foods for example are like citrus fruit if you're having loads of them or having
loads of juices these can actually bring on mouth sauces or irritate it especially if you've got it
very spicy food again it can cause that irritation and makes them out also worse or potentially cause
it as well and lastly if you're having food that is quite coarse in texture and by that i mean for
example if you're having like toast you know 10 times a day if you're having 10 slices of
toast a day that's been toasted and it's really coarse sandpapery sort of that's all you need to
think of it like and it's hitting your mouth and it's hitting the gums and and then areas
then that might be aggravating the mouth also if you already got one or it might be potentially
causing one as well because that abrasion can potentially then cause a mouth also if
that makes sense and this applies for other foods as well like for example if you have crisps all
the time if you're having loads of crisps again they're causing texture and they can also irritate
moving on to tip number four which is avoiding chewing gum if you're someone that chews gum all
the time again there's more of a risk of causing that irritation you might bite somewhere you might
bite your tongue and that irritation because the mouth isn't designed to be constantly moving all
day long so if you're biting something and chewing gum every single day like this okay it's just
going to cause that irritation more okay we need the mouth to rest sometimes that's why we don't
eat all the time either so if you're thinking to yourself actually i have like gum every single day
all the time that i'm awake i'm chewing on gum then this might be one of the culprits moving
on to tip number five is avoiding toothpaste that contains sodium lauryl sulfate okay we call this
sls for short again this is an irritant and it can be bringing on those mouth horses it can
also make it a lot more painful especially if you've got an outsourcer at the moment
so look at your toothpaste if you've been using a toothpaste for a long time
and you suddenly know you've noticed that you actually have been getting these mouthwashes
these canker sauce for a long time check the ingredients that could be one of the culprits
moving on to tip number six it's all about eating a healthy balanced diet look sometimes if you're
not having a healthy balanced diet it's going to lead to nutritional deficiencies it's going to
lead to mineral deficiencies and these can sometimes cause mouth ulcers okay or canker sores
i'm getting confused now which word i'm going to use i'm going to keep calling it canker sores but
have a look at your diet if you're someone who's prone to getting cancers all the time
let your healthcare professional know about this as well they might arrange some blood tests as
well to see exactly what's going on and if you are thinking to yourself actually abraham i don't know
what i need to do to have a healthy balanced diet it's a word that everyone throws at me but no one
ever explains well not to worry because i do have a video on the topic and if you want more
information on it i will leave a link up here and in the description below so feel free to give it
a watch and tip number seven it's all about using a toothbrush with soft bristles okay so if you're
someone who's using a toothbrush with really hearts or bristles again this can cause that
irritation it can cause that abrasion if you're someone who brushes their teeth really vigorously
and hard and they're whacking their gums with the end of the two brush then that again can cause
the mouth horses so i really need you to sort of reflect on these things give it a thing now
that you're aware of these sort of things have a little think next time you're brushing your teeth
or next time you're eating or you know it's time you're doing these things that we spoke about that
can possibly be causing the mouth to also some of them you might be able to relate to and make some
changes to see if there's any improvements okay so i hope you're finding this information helpful so
far i hope it's really going to help your canker sore you now know what to do for the treatments
we also now know what to do with the lifestyle stuff and preventative stuff but we need to go to
the most important part of the video when to see medical advice i'm gonna have a little box pop up
here give it a read but please remember this if you've had a canker soren it's lasted more than
three weeks so three weeks or more you need to seek medical attention that's really important
because you need to get checked out what's going on also bear in mind that if you're constantly
getting canker sores and it's constantly coming on or if you've got any towards the back of your
throat at all okay or they're getting bigger they're getting redder they get they're getting
really really painful any of these kinds of things also give this bit a read as well speak to your
healthcare professional that's the most important thing because they need to find out what's causing
these okay that's the most important thing now i would also recommend if you're someone that gets
canker sores now and then as well speak to your dentist too go to your dentist get a checkup done
when was your last checkup are you having checkups every six months if not you need
to go to your dentist so they can give you a good checkup find out because there might
be certain things that are causing it and they can see just by looking at your mouth if there's
certain things they need to fix if it's something that's rubbing if there's a bite that's a problem
any of these they could potentially be causing the canker sores as well so it's a really good idea
to speak to your dentist too get them involved as well and as i mentioned earlier vitamin deficiency
and mineral deficiencies as well can sometimes cause canker sores so if you are someone who
knows already that you're a high risk of these deficiencies then again you need to seek medical
attention also please remember if you've got things like beckett's disease or if you've got
bd and all these sort of symptoms things that can cause malabsorption so you're not absorbing
vitamins and minerals correctly again these can put you at a higher risk of getting these canker
sores so if you fall into any of these categories again speak to your healthcare professional okay
so it looks like we've come to the end of this week's video i really hope that you found this
information helpful if you've got a canker saw right now i really hope that these tips are going
to help you so you're going to get well soon and i really wish you a speedy recovery please remember
as well don't forget the red flags that we spoke about don't forget about seeking medical attention
because you now know all of it and you know everything you need to know please
tell your friends tell your family tell your loved ones everything you learned today and
also if you've got any of your own tips as well don't forget to leave a comment below because i'd
love to read it and i'm sure everyone watching this video would love to read it too and i also
as i always say at the end of every single video and i can't speak in this week's video of some
strange reason but as i always say always remember that you're awesome and i will see you next week
please don't forget to click that like button it's going to help the video grow and it's
going to help me feel a bit better because i'm like oh yeah more likes that was the
worst thing i've ever said in my life hey guys thanks for watching this week's video make sure
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