The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Avoid SLS Toothpaste
Posted by Dave (Columbus, Usa) on 04/28/2013
★★★★★
I have had canker sores for a while and had tried a lot of different things to help them. My daughter started to get them at a young age too. We looked around and found that SLS can cause canker sores and we found that it is in a lot of toothpastes. We started using Baking soda for toothpaste and we have not had any more canker sores for over 6 months except for my daughter 1 more time. She missed the toothpaste flavor and she used some of a gel mint flavor toothpast that had SLS in it and the next day she got a canker sore. She went back to the baking soda and it was gone in 2 days and didn't come back. Before she was getting 1 -2 every week now none in 6 months. We just get a small bowl and put some baking soda in it and wet the toothbrush in water and dip it in the paste 1 time and then brush. I learned about it from my grandpa many years ago but never used it. He past away at 94 years old and had almost all of his teeth.
Goldenseal
Posted by Bradc (San Rafael, Ca, United States) on 02/07/2010
★★★★★
I haven't seen this method but it works like a charm. GOLDENSEAL. In liquid format. It doesn't sting like Alum, and has other healing properties as well. Goldenseal is a natural antibiotic.
First I'm going to tell you the method, then I'll tell you from my experience why cankers appear in the first place and what you can do as a preventative.
Get good strong, high quality liquid Goldenseal from a health food store --- do not get the cheap variety from a drugstore. Put a thimble full in a shot glass and fill the shot glass to about 3/4 with nice hot/warm water. Dump all of it into your mouth. Sit there with the mixture in your mouth for about 20 minutes - maybe go watch some TV. But be active while you are watching. Swish it around on your canker(s), push it, pull it, blow out your cheek. Make the Goldenseal get INTO your canker. When done, spit it out but don't rinse. Leave the residue in your mouth and go about your day. You should notice pretty immediate relief as your canker starts to go down and shrink.
Do this again after every meal and as needed. This is because food and drink of any kind will tend to stimulate your canker. You need to calm your mouth down again with the Goldenseal mixture. Do it right before you go to bed as well so the mixture residue can be in your mouth, protecting, while you sleep.
Now, here are a few other things about cankers and the reasons you get them (from my research and what I have been able to understand).
It's an acidic imbalance in the body, expressing itself via cankers. Too much acid. Here's what to do when you feel a canker coming on, or when you have them already....
Check your toothpaste. It often causes cankers and imbalances. Go down to the drugstore and get Rembrandt's tooth paste for cankers. Always keep it in the house and switch to it immediately when you feel a canker coming on. It's not that it does anything FOR the canker, it's just that they've removed the crap that causes cankers.
Immediately modify your diet also. Sorry, but you want BLAND food that will stop stimulating your canker. Here's what you MUST stay away from: anything with citrus, coffee, chocolate, spicy food, salts and peppers, milk and dairy (terrible for cankers) --- and sugar! If you have this stuff you'll instantly be able to feel it eat into your canker and start causing pain. Stay away from it until the canker is gone. Oh, and alcohol - especially WINE. Staying away from these things will help immensely and quickly.
It helps to take a pain reliever to get rid of the pain and give yourself a break for a bit.
And here's the other thing. I find I get cankers when my body is run down and I've been forgetting to take my vitamins. My body slowly goes into imbalance and cankers rise to the occasion. Be rigorous about taking vitamins! Especially a B complex which will help with stress (stress also contributes to cankers). Search online for a good liquid vitamin. I've found one easy to take, fast and effective for absorption by the body.
The last thing is that if you want extra help in addition to the Goldenseal use the Aspirin method mentioned above. It works. I think it helps to get rid of the astringent imbalance in the mouth. Grind some real aspirin (doesn't have to be baby aspirin) with a spoon on the counter. Lick the tip of your finger and dip it in the powder. Lay it on the canker and cover the canker with the powder. Keep in mouth for about 1/2 hour or so. It really works.
Enjoy the relief of this program folks.
Ginger
Posted by Patricia (Foster City, CA/ USA) on 02/09/2009
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I placed a slice of ginger root on my canker sore. It relieves pain temporarily. I suggest before you eat something leave it in for about a minute. The pain usually goes away for about a good 45 minutes. My canker sore was so large it was swollen, bleeding, and also had pus coming out of it. I could barely talk. The ginger root allowed me to eat a meal.
Mustard
Posted by Chris (Sarnia, Ontario) on 10/22/2009
★★★★★
Thank you so so much. In agony for two days with multiple canker sores. Applied mustard. Yes, some initial discomfort. Within two minutes, complete relief. THANK YOU AGAIN:)
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Gean (Salina, KS) on 12/30/2008
Good to know. Also, I wanted to add that 2 weeks ago my brother had canker sores in the back of his throat which hurt so bad that a sip of water felt like a knife. He sucked on licorice lozenges from the health food store, and within one to two days the sores were gone.
Ginger
Posted by K HOWELL (Speedwell, TN /USA) on 12/09/2008
★★★★★
Use a very thin slice of fresh cut Ginger Root to heal painful mouth sores. Rub the Ginger Root on the sore. Discard the slice after use, or eat it. Works fast, and kills the pain instantly. I have had a few mouth sores in the last several years and this treatment has worked 100% of the time, for me, with just one application.
L-Lysine
Posted by Bill (Orem, UT) on 05/28/2008
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I've had massive dime-sized canker sores for years and had tried just about everything by the time I had finally found this website. I tried the recommended L-Lysine tablets 2 times a day (morning and evening) and have been doing so for about 6 months now. I am happy to say I have finally found the cure for canker sores, trust me, L-Lysine works! I never get canker sores anymore.
Baking Soda
Posted by Amanda (West Palm, Florida) on 11/08/2007
★★★★★
I had the worst canker sore on my gum right behind my last upper molar. It hurt to even swallow and actually woke me up at 2:00 am in the morning last night. Apparently the Zilactin-B I put on it was not working! I stumbled upon your website and decided to try the only 2 things I could get my hands on at that time of night: salt and baking soda. First I removed all of the Zilactin and rinsed my mouth with warm salt water. Then, I made a paste with baking soda and a few drops of water and placed it on the canker and let it sit for about a mintue. Then I rinsed my mouth with plain warm water. I also took 2 tylenol to help get back to sleep. I still had some pain when trying to get back to sleep, but just woke up completely pain free!! I can swallow without pain and actually enjoyed my breakfast! I can't believe it! I plan to put another "paste" on today just to make sure, but will attest that this remedy really works!
Dry Sage Leaves
Posted by Tim (Georgia) on 06/05/2018 21 posts
★★★★★
Dry Sage leaves are also great for canker sores. It's a cheapest way to get rid of cancer sore and related bb. Just chew a pinch of dry Sage leaves all day long. Place this mass on canker sore for an hour. Can swallow it easily without any side effect. Just avoid scratches - chew only leaves. You'll get rid of canker sore just in a day/or 2-3 days in severe and multiple cases. Also wash your brushes with soap everyday especially they stay as a bouquet in glass in your families.
Colostrum
Posted by Megan (White Plains) on 06/03/2018
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I get mouth ulcers but years ago someone told me to try colostrum. Now whenever I feel one coming on, I take a capsule and it usually disappears.
Honey
Posted by Audrey Walker (Us) on 02/03/2017
★★★★★
Raw natural honey worked very fast for me. I had a very painful canker sore for over a week. I tried salt, baking soda and collodial silver with no improvements. I read on here to try raw honey and I noticed relief the very first day. Within two days of dabbing raw honey on it several times per day the sore was almost gone. It was a huge relief and a yummy remedy!
Honey
Posted by Jane (Canada) on 02/15/2016
★★★★★
Honey will get rid of cankers almost over night everytime, works for me.
Unlit Match
Posted by Sleighb7 (Ontario, Canada) on 10/18/2013
★★★★★
Unlit Match for Canker Sores: Oh thank the lord someone put this remedy up.... The to the point story.... Large mouth ulcer with white crust forming, lots of pain, put unlit match on the white part for around 20-30 seconds, not to long in case of further irritation which causes them to grow. Woke up 50% better, repeated same process this morning, ulcer is around 85% gone, will repeat tonight and be done with it, fastest ive ever gotten rid of an ulcer, no more white crust, warning this will sting but the relief it provides after is well worth the pain.
Chronic Canker Sore
Posted by Louwrence (Rustenburg, North West, South Africa) on 04/04/2013
Hi Ana, Seeing that everything you have tried has failed, try rinsing your mouth with your own urine, it is an antiseptic, whenever I bite the inside of my mouth that is what I use. You can also try salt but it burns & doesn't heal as quickly as with urine.
Black Tea
Posted by David (New York, Ny) on 10/18/2011
★★★★★
Tannin is a good remedy for canker sores, it's found in black tea. If you put a black tea bag on your tongue and let it sit for like 5 min or so you take it off and the pain is nearly all gone and the effect stays for quite awhile.
Gluten-Free Diet
Posted by Jon (Defiance, Oh) on 10/06/2011
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For years I suffered from canker sores, joint pain, sudden weakness, sharp pains throughout my body, and acid reflux. When the stomach cramps set in, that was the red flag: I was gluten intolerant. For those of you suffering from chronic canker sores, it is a food allergy and one of the symptoms of gluten intolerance. As damage occurs to your intestines, your ability to absorb certain vitamins (like vitamin B) can cause your immune system to attack the inside of your mouth because it responds to certain substances that may be left behind after eating.
For me, the trigger was citric acid, but the primary cause was gluten. Now I don't get canker sores unless I eat something with gluten in it. I can even have drinks and foods with citric acid in it and not get them if I'm avoiding gluten. If you are only getting them infrequently then I would suspect that you are just low in vitamin B, but for those of you getting this painful mouth ulcer regularly, you might want to get tested for gluten intolerance. Just thought I'd put in my experiences and two-cents since I see so many myths circulating around about canker sores since there is no definite answer on what causes them.
Yogurt
Posted by Whitney (Livonia, Mi) on 01/01/2011
★★★★★
Years ago a friend of mine had a mouth full of canker sores. Everything the dr gave her never worked includin lanicaine, she couldn't talk or function. After months of going through this we tried natural home remidies and found out it was great. Yogurt, the kind that has fruit on the bottom, the kind you stir to mix up, this activates the live cultures in it to soothe the pain and get to the real problem. Which is a intestinal flura upset. Yogurt balances all this out and within eating 1 to 2 or three a day all canker sores will be gone within 24 to 48 hours. I have recomdend this to other friends and even did this with my girls when they were little, worked everytime. The best thing about this is anyone from babies to adults can eat this, and is so much cheaper than a dr appointment and perscriptions that aren't always going to work. Good luck to everyone. And I hope you find this helpful.
Water Pulling
Posted by Msg (Somewhere, Europe) on 03/20/2010
★★★★★
i tried oil pulling with water instead of oil. i have been having recurrent canker sores for the past 3 years. after a week of "water pulling" they are greatly reduced. i spit out the water when it gets too much volume, and just continue with new water. i drink after cleaning my mouth when i'm done pulling.
