This is not really an herb remedy, but it works for me. Straight Vitamin E on the sore, it also helps take the pain away. Black Tea and L-Lysine also help a bunch. I also found I stopped getting them once I started using a mouth wash.

hi kfgesq, your poor daughter! canker sores are so painful! as far as i know there is no definitive cure for canker sores, but there are many herbs which should help. myrrh, is antimicrobial, astringent and healing, add 5 drops of oil to a glass of warm water and use as a mouthwash. do not ingest! also suitable for use as a mouthwash are, 5ml of sage or rosemary tincture to a glass of warm water. try chewing billberries afterwards to help disguise the flavour. bistort aka polygonum bistorta is effective for all mouth inflammations, it is astringent, demulcent and anti inflammatory, purple sage is also very effective used as a mouthwash it is antiseptic and astringent; try taking garlic and echinacea capsules to boost the immune system. you could try combination mouth washes such as rosemary and echinacea tinctures to a glass of warm water, your daughter could take some bilberries to school with her, these are healing and antibacterial. and a small bottle of dilute mouthwash would be safe and unobtrusive for her to use there. try to encourage her to drink lots of fluid and use the mouthwash as often as possible, instead of fizzy drinks give her blackcurrant juice, this is bursting with vitamin c and will also boost her immune system...
if you need the recipe for mouthwash or any info on the herbs, or anything else for that matter, i will be happy to help..just e mail me and ill get back to you promptly,

good luck
love ella...

Hi kfgesq

A big sympathiser here!

Try Melissa officinalis, aka: lemon balm. It works better than anything in the world. I've had cold sores - similar virus - since very young and now when I feel one comming I drink lemon balm tea and swab it on the sore whenever I think of it. It reduces the pain and itching, seems to check the 'growth', reduces the duration and speeds healing!

Since cankers are inside the mouth you may want to try either making a waxy cream with M. officinalis tincture or oil or using either or both of those directly [please follow label directions]to the sore. And do drink and gargle the tea in conjuction with the direct application.

Studies have proven its efficacy in this regard and I highly, highly recommend it.

Good luck,
Jill

Something she could throw in her pocket and dab on when ever she thinks of it is Peppermint and/or Tea Tree essential oils. Both are anti-viral and effective against cankers.
China Bayles reccomends the use of those oils for cankers to someone in one of her books too :o)
Lynn

Camphor dries them up quickly. You can usually buy the liquid at a store with a real pharmacy. I know Walgreens carries it. Just dab it on several times a day with a cotton swab.

Not herbal, but Clorox bleach kills the herpes virus (too bad we can't drink it, hey?) If you dab a little on where her sores keep popping up, it may stop them for awhile. And before somebody jumps on me, I now that the virus is in your body and will come back eventually, but this works. I've tried it.

But canker sores are caused by stress which destroys B vitamins. Make sure she gets a B complex supplement every day. I'd say make her eat right, but come on...she's 14!

I take one Acidophilus tablet and 1 Lysine tablet in the morning and evening when I have breakouts of canker sores. It helps them to heal faster. For some more accessible locations a prescrioption cream called Kenalog in Orabase is wonderful. You put it on at nigh at by morning the sore is sealed over. I recently read that there is a connection between certain foods and environmental allergies such as grass, pollen, hay fever, etc. Eating the "trigger foods" when you are sufferening from environmental allergies can cause you to break out in sores. Tomatoes is one of these foods, boo-hoo!

My wife used to get canker sores almost constantly until
someone told her it was caused by commercial toothpaste.
The chemical Sodium Laurel Sulphate sp? (SLS) weekens the
walls of the mouth.
She went to an all natural toothpaste 3 years ago and hasn't
had one since.

Tom

Rinse the mouth out with salt water and or apple cider vinegar. A little honey will help to soothe and also relieve the (get rid of) the canker. But by far the best method (you can do this after you gargle) is to apply straight tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is not really for internal use although there's not a great risk of poisoning. There are tea tree toothpastes and mouthwashes and flosses. Simply dry the area a little and dab the tea tree oil on. Try not to rub it or drink or "spit" too much while it is soaking in.

That is really interesting about the commerial toothpaste! My husband told me not too long ago that simply sucking on an antacid (like tums) will get rid of those and I tried it once - it worked, right away. (though I rarely get these so I don't know if it was just me and a mild problem or what) I would bet it's got a lot to do with mouth pH though , so perhaps the canker sore is fostered by higher acidity and this is balanced by the high lime content of the tablets...

Well this won't prevent them but they will speed up recovery and will take the pain away from them once she gets them. Either milk of magnesia of mylanta even a generic form will be fine and some benedryl generic on that will be fine too. What you do is get even amounts of both like say 1 tsp full of each mix them together and have her swish around her mouth for as long as she likes the longer the better, then she can spit it out and if she accidentally swallows it, thats ok too. They will numb it and in about 2 days the canker sores will be gone. My daughters Dr. told me to do this when she had sores in her mouth when she was about 2 years old, she did not know how to spit so she swallowed it, you can do this up to 3 times a day,and it works wonders. Sometimes if it just one sore soak a cotton ball in it and apply it to the sore feels soooo good. Hope this helps.

I've had canker sores on and off since I was a child. Painful little buggers for sure.

The best and easiest help I have found is to swish & gargle a warm salt water rinse several times a day. Just toss some table salt [1 or 2 tbsp] in a cup of warm water, stir then swish for a minute or so. Spit it out, then don't drink or eat anything for about 20 - 30min [so the solution is not diluted or washed away too soon] It can sting but I swear by it. Keeps my canker sores from growing into really large ones and decreases the healing time by at least half.

I also usually take table salt and place it directly on the canker sore. This can really sting, but only for a short few seconds. I leave the salt packed in for about a minute, spit it out then follow up with a salt water rinse. While the salt pack will sting initially I find afterwards the pain is much less.

For really painful canker sores, try using an antibacterial-numbing throat spray, Cepercol [sp?] makes one. They are usually found with the cold & flu isle. You could also try some baby teething gel that has a numbing agent in it to help with the pain. Just spray or apply the gel to the sore for pain relief.

On final note, I've found two things that bring on canker sores are stress and foods that contain a lot of food dye, especially RED food colouring. IE: red freezies, Kool Aid, etc. I know several other people who also find red food dye brings out canker sores.

Sounds like she may be sensitive to something she's ingesting. Does she take aspirin or anti-inflammatories? I developed a sensitivity to AF's after having to take them for a lengthy stretch. Now I get canker sores after just occasional use of them. I can't even use willow bark tea, or herbal anti-inflammatory blends. It's the salycilates, I believe.

Omg my 7 year old keeps getting these painful canker sores :(:(

I used to get a canker sore every few weeks, but I finally found a preventative cure: Arm and Hammer Toothpaste (which you can buy almost anywhere, although the travel size is usually only online). I've been using this baking soda based toothpaste for the last year, and it works great. I hardly ever have canker sores, and if I do get one, it occurs where the toothpaste doesn't reach (like way down in the crevice between my gums and lip). I also find that putting baking soda directly on the canker sore helps it heal faster, but preventing them from forming in the first place is a much better strategy. Note that this Arm and Hammer toothpaste does have SLS, but the natural SLS-free toothpastes did not work for me.

I would get really bad canker sores all the time but I started to put some milk of magnesia on the sore and it always seemed to work. Also you can try using aloe juice which also seemed to be a good way for me to get rid of cankers.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Get Rid of Canker Sores

treat the underlying condition to get rid of them for good. the virus causing canker sores lies dormant in the body then makes an appearance when the person gets run down and the body is physiologically stressed.

boost the immunity by using a good probiotic supplement, balanced healthy diet, astragalus herb in tea form or 10 drops of echinacea tincture daily over the long term.

lemon balm has anti viral properties specific to this virus so is a good tea to drink throughout the day (contraindicated for daily use for those with low thyroid function) lysine cream topically helps them heal faster.

First know the reason for canker sore. If you have canker sore more than 7 days then contact your family doctor. Mainly sore are occurring because of heat of our body means your belly not clear with food. Mainly sore are occurs time to time to patient of constipation.

Here is a link that might be useful: Canker Sore

combine tinctures of andrographis and st. john's wort...andrographis is strongly antiviral. kicks them to the curb in a couple of days. fastest recovery i've seen from a wide variety of remedies.

for an acute malady like this dose yourself frequently, 2 droppers full several times a day, for a relatively short time, 2-4 days.

the WHO has great interest in the andrographis plant for many diseases including malaria and virulent flus. its currently used extensively to treat viral cancers in the u.s.

use as a simple for a short time only, andrographis can be hard on the stomach over the long term.

This post was edited by kaliaman on Sun, Oct 27, 13 at 10:48

I use salt on canker sores. It stings, but seems to kill the thing. For cold sores, I smother them with petroleum jelly. It also works. Don't ask me why.

Cause of canker sores is from the liver.

HerbDoctor

Several posters have already mentioned some of the causes of canker sores (painful mouth ulcers) - sensitivity to certain (usually acid) foods like citrus or tomatoes, vitamin B12 deficiency (folate, zinc and iron deficiency can also be involved), stress and toothpastes containing sodium lauryl sulfate, Minor trauma can also be involved, and people with certain immune disorders, Crohn's disease or celiac disease may be especially susceptible.

Canker sores are different from cold sores (which are triggered by herpesvirus); canker sores are not known to be caused by any viruses (and are not due to liver trouble).

Treatment and prevention strategies are discussed in this article.

Not liver TROUBLE. It's due to a CONDITION rising from the liver.

Eric, you're a bit like the government; You can tell people what DOESN'T cause it, but you can't say what DOES cause it.

When I view canker sores, I usually see people with a chronic, long-standing problem of them. Giving the proper liver tonic for the individual make-up has cleared up these chronic conditions where the people report to me months later that they have no more problems. My conclusion: the liver is largely involved in canker sores.

HerbDoctor

Charlie, my previous post lists a number of triggers for canker sores.

It seems that you believe virtually any medical condition arises in the liver. Expressing these views probably helps sales of your liver tonic, but they're not based in reality.

Eric, I don't sell liver tonics. Now, I want you to sit in your corner and behave. You can come out when you've learned a little humility.

The liver is subject to many conditions that contribute to thousands of symptoms, one of which is canker sores. Now, I'm not reading this out of some book as you only do (not much clinical experience on your part). It's from years of experience with such issues.

What else can you quote out of some book, Eric. Can you research to see why you're so argumentive to new ideas that don't relate to your own ideas? Perhaps it was because of your childhood abuse (?). I hope you can work through your anger issues somewhere other than on this site. You really shouldn't come on here just to use GardenWeb as your personal therapy session, because you really don't play well with the other kids in the sand box.

HerbDoctor

Too bad you've chosen to attack me rather than substantiate your claims and explain why sources such as the Mayo Clinic and WebMD are wrong about causes and treatments for canker sores.

To get a better idea of Charlie's "years of experience" and liver tonic promotion, Google "Charlie Benghauser liver tonic".

This post was edited by eric_oh on Sat, Nov 9, 13 at 0:06

Eric, you have my permission to give my phone number out, too. (You're such a small man.)

HerbDoctor

the babies are squabbling again.

kinda hate the way these two ruin the forum for everyone else. unfortunately the forum moderators support this nonsense by refusing to do anything about it.

two bad apples do indeed spoil the whole barrel.

Do you have any information to post that is appropriate to the subject of this discussion? Or do you just enjoy discord?

I think we know the answer to that, seeing that just recently you tried to revive a thread that had been dormant for months, solely for the purpose of trying to provoke an argument between two other posters. And twice now you've declared you were leaving the forum (saying it wasn't worthwhile) but you keep coming back.

As long as you're here, why not discuss herbalism-related topics calmly, and forego the personal attacks?

Kali:

Are you a Spleen/Earth type? I ask that because it seems that when Eric and I get into it, it upsets you a bit. Spleen types like balance and harmony. I'm just guessing here. Not trying to offend you nor pick a fight.

Recently, I got an e-mail from a guy named Chris asking me to sell him a liver tonic. What a coincident! About the time Eric accused me of selling liver tonics. Wow!

HerbDoctor

no i'm a fire type.

adult men who act like immature brats are not well liked, women find them especially unappealing.

in this public forum you and eric impose your childish nonsense on a lot of people who are here to discuss herbalism, that's rude and inconsiderate.

you've been asked many times by several here to stop to no avail, in essence that's the same as giving the collective forum the finger.

ugh. feel sorry for the people in your lives.

is that what you wanted to know herb doctor charlie? felt ugly to write it, don't ask again please.

If you're truly here to discuss herbalism, why not do so instead of attacking other posters?

Two of your three posts in this thread have been devoted to personal attacks including uncalled-for sexist remarks. The other contained misinformation (claiming that canker sores are caused by viruses and urging forum members to take supposedly antiviral medication for them).

Not very helpful.

If you're truly here to discuss herbalism, why not do so instead of attacking other posters?

Two of your three posts in this thread have been devoted to personal attacks including uncalled-for sexist remarks. The other contained misinformation (claiming that canker sores are caused by viruses and urging forum members to take supposedly antiviral medication for them).

Not very helpful.

Kali:

While it's true that Eric and I get into an occasional spat, I just don't understand what prompts your animosity toward me? I've never done anything to you. Don't be hatin'.

Now, group hug!! You, too, Eric. Bring it in!!!

HerbDoctor

the two guys who selfishly impose their nonsense on this forum on an almost daily basis for years are calling me out????

bwahaha. yeah okay.

Kali:

I'm not calling you out. I am seriously baffled by your animosity toward me. I don't get it. We may differ in our views, but you're downright mean. Is there any rationale to it?

Thank you.

HerbDoctor