Natural Remedies for Canker Sores | Home Treatments For Relie

Garlic

Posted by Paolo (Midland, Tx) on 12/05/2015
★★★★★

I had a canker sore in mouth right where my gums and cheek meet. I chewed one garlic clove in the morning and once at night and within three days it was non-existent.

Avoid Milk

Posted by Sharon (Naples, Fl) on 12/08/2014
★★★★★

hi, my son is 17 and has been suffering with cankersores since he's been 3yrs old.

He gets them weekly up to 10 in his mouth. Went to every singal doctor/department known to man. Ended up in Rheumatology department only to be put on drugs that were for cancer!!! I was so done with this. Finally I took him to a holistic doctor who did a food intolerance panel. (not allergy) and it came up that he was intolerant to milk, cheese, and eggs. As soon as we eliminated those foods, he is cankersore free-----except of course when he wants pizza with cheese and ends up with sores 2 days later:)

Folic Acid

Posted by Melissa (Veracruz, Mexico) on 04/24/2013
★★★★★

Take folic acid. Mouth sores go away very quickly! It's fantastic!

Probiotics

Posted by Jnell (Lumby, Bc, Canada) on 04/14/2013
★★★★★

Probiotics for Mouth Ulcers: This is so painful at first, if you're dealing with a large ulcer, but it works everytime. Open up your probiotic capsule(s) 1 or 2 is good, pour onto a dish, add only a few drops of water at a time to form a kind of paste, then, using clean hands, use your index finger to scoup up some of the paste and push it up into the sore. Try and keep from swallowing for a bit (you'll get a little drooly) between 2 and 5 minutes is good, but the longer the better I suppose. You want to do this 3 or 4 times/day.... but I've never had to do it for more then a day, once I had one about the size of a quarter on the roof of my mouth and that was nearly gone after the second treatment! It does hurt terribly bad, but only while your pushing the probiotics into the wound.

Supplements

Posted by Connie (Slc, Utah, Usa) on 12/12/2011
★★★★★

Hi All ; It's been a 45 yr. search for me. I hope to shorten your suffering. I'll just give you the answer first, or the one that worked for me. Folate/Folic Acid. I need extra, more than the RDA of 400 mcg. , I need 800 mcg. daily in a supplement.

Canker sores are a common sign of B12 deficiency, so that's another supplement to consider, especially when one takes Folate, because they are interdependent. Sublinguals are easier for the body to use than oral types. I take large quantities, but I believe most people may need less. Supplements work best when we find our own numbers. My guess is that most people will respond to 500-1000 mcg. daily.

Zinc is another supplement that is suggested for canker sores. The RDA is approx. 15 mg. Daily. When I look at the zinc content of foods, it seems difficult to consume that amount, so I supplement with it, 15mg. 2-3 times weekly. But I'm considering a test just to see if I'm in the range somewhere.

Folate may also help with other lesions/ulcerations along the GI tract, I've read.

I wish I could give this information to my 10 yr. old self, when I lay crumpled on the bathroom floor with a stick of silver nitrate that only made the pain worse....

Gluten-Free Diet

Posted by Shaun (York, Uk) on 11/01/2011
★★★★★

My partner (female, 57) has suffered with mouth cankers for as long as she can remember. These are/were incredibly painful. They looked like mini volcano's! They came 'round on a regular basis on gums, tongue and inner lips. We tried just about everything, but with no joy. Then I thought maybe she is gluten sensitive (I had heavily researched gluten sensitivity for my own [now cured skin condition[s], see elsewhere on Earthclinic), and other other 'odd' and seemingly incurable autoimmune-like issues of various friends. The result? Bam! No more mouth cankers. What a joy! To those who do not suffer this issue you just cannot believe the sheer relief that this has brought her. 50 years of doctors efforts had come to nothing. It has now been 2/3 months with no sign of mouth ulcers.

As an aside I would suggest to ANYONE that if you have some sort of seemingly incurable issue (candida, cankers, anaemia, IBS, ear pain, brain fog, rheumatoid arthritis etc., etc. , or indeed... Whatever) that you very, very strongly consider some form of gluten sensitivity. Sadly my partners father also suffers from canker issue (and stomach problems), but as he is 85 and bread is something of a holy social and ethnic issue with him he will just not accept the fact that gluten is his problem. Nevertheless we will keep trying to convince him!

Baking Soda

Posted by Asw (Houston, Tx) on 10/07/2011
★★★★★

Using baking soda worked for me. I had a canker sore that kept getting worst despite the fact I was applying hydrogen peroxide. So I looked online and saw that baking soda also worked as a treatment for some. I applied baking soda once or twice a day for three days and it completely healed the sore.

Oil Pulling

Posted by Mmsg (Somewhere, Europe) on 03/20/2011
★★★★★

after years of recurring canker sores, and trying many of the remedies on this site, the one that is finally working for me is oil pulling (15 minutes once or twice daily) with vco. Thank you!

Ibuprofen

Posted by Mary (Philadelphia, Pa) on 12/23/2010
★★★★★

Thank you!!!! This afternoon a canker sore became incredibly painful. Tried salt water. Tried lisine. Came here and tried Apple Cider Vinegar. All either did nothing or made it hurt more. Kept reading here and saw all the good aspirin reports. Didn't have aspirin so I used ibuprofen instead. Oh my goodness, it's now numb. No pain at all. Even if it doesn't last, a bit of relief is a godsend!

Tea Tree Oil

Posted by Heidi (Van Nuys, Ca, Usa) on 09/09/2010
★★★★☆

Yay - My second painful canker sore just showed up yesterday, and last night it woke me up from my sleep. I tried dobbing some tea tree oil on it with a q-tip, and the pain was immediately eased enough to get back to sleep. I don't know if it will help speed the healing, but it does certainly help a great deal with the pain!

Wasabi

Posted by Stargene (Ben Lomond, Ca) on 01/30/2010
★★★★★

For decades I'd suffered from canker sores (aka: aphthous ulcers) inside my mouth. A dental study of Japanese communities revealed that their low dental plaque was due to compounds called isothiocyanates in wasabi, the green radish paste. Since that time, 12 years ago, I have not had a SINGLE canker sore, even though I still abrade my mouth, gum and inner lips as much as ever, because every day I brush my teeth using ~1 part wasabi to ~3-4 parts toothpaste, ANY toothpaste.

The wasabi actually inhibits bacteria from attaching to mouth surfaces using their plaque! This is an actual preventive which works.

Avoid Mouthwash

Posted by Kevin (Seattle, Wa) on 11/24/2009
★★★★★

Found out that I kept getting canker sores and versions of thrush from using mouthwashes. If you have c- sores and gargle with off the shelf mouth washes, try stopping for a few days. worked for me.

Oral Care

Posted by NMadrid (Madrid, Spain) on 05/23/2009
★★★★★

I used to suffer terribly with canker sores since childhood, till a friend recommended salt toothpaste - I obviously can't mention the brand here, but the main ingredient is baking soda and I have to say that for me (and the friend who recommended it) this really has been a miracle cure!

Probiotics

Posted by Adam (Chicago, Il) on 05/20/2009
★★★★★

I use probiotics 2 capsules a day to control canker sores. I used to get them from eating any kind of nuts or bread/pastry with nuts. For 2 months now I have been eating the nuts without the canker sores.

Aloe Vera

Posted by jen (corning, NY and Italy ) on 02/27/2009
★★★★★

aloe is what did it for me. i have some ingestible pure aloe gel, and put it on there probably 10 times yesterday when I had a nasty canker sore on the underside of my tongue that had been developing already for a few days. I was desperate cuz it was SO painful I could hardly talk. maybe Im a wimp. Anyway, that's all I did and had a good night sleep. Today I hardly feel it at all.

Avoid Nuts

Posted by Charlie (Mason, New Hampshire) on 11/25/2008
★★★★★

I have had episodes of canker sore since I was a child. After suffering for about 35 years I figured out that my canker sores were triggered by certain tree nuts. I am not otherwise allergic to tree nuts. If I eat walnuts or hazelnuts, or products containing them or their oil, canker sores will develop in 24-48 hours. I also think that seasonal pollen allergies may trigger them, and found that a prescription antihistamine (I know, not a folk remedy) completely prevents them in pollen season. As for "cures" I have never found one, but am intrigued by the alum testimonials and will try that.