Mouth ulcers (known also as canker sores) are painful little white spots that appear on the sides of the mouth. They occur if you accidentally bite your mouth while eating, or if you are generally run-down. Some people find that they appear after using a new toothbrush, if the old one had become very soft, and they can also appear if your diet is high in sugar and low in essential nutrients. Some women find that mouth ulcers appear regularly before or during their monthly cycles. Some people find that certain foods trigger their ulcers - nuts, for instance, or shellfish.
Sometimes a mouth ulcer will cause a little discomfort for a day or two, and then disappear. Others can last a week or more, and can make eating very painful. If your health is poor - or if you are recovering from an infection - you may even find two or three mouth ulcers at the same time. It is hard to imagine the pain they can cause if you have never suffered from one!
When you find a mouth ulcer, it is important to cut down - or cut out - all sucrose (table sugar) and products with added sugar such as bakery goods and chocolate. At the same time, increase your Vitamin C and Vitamin A consumption. Vitamin A can be found in orange-coloured fruits and vegetables, and is particularly high in carrots. Vitamin C is found in most raw fruits and vegetables, or can be taken as powder stirred into fruit juice. Snacking on raw carrots and apples for a day or two, while avoiding all sugar, may be sufficient to stop the development of a newly formed mouth ulcer if you are otherwise healthy.
Coconut oil and mouth ulcers
One of the quickest and least painful ways of easing a mouth ulcer is to tab a little coconut oil on it with your finger. This is easiest if the coconut oil is liquid, at temperatures above 25C (75F) but if it is solid, even if refrigerated, it will quickly melt in the warmth of your mouth. Coconut oil has antibacterial properties and if you catch your mouth ulcer soon enough, it may go away in just a day or two with this treatment.
Pineapple and mouth ulcers
Some people find that eating fresh pineapple - or chewing on the core, after chopping up a pineapple - eases the symptoms of an ulcer, and causes it to go away. Unfortunately, other people react badly to fresh pineapple and can even develop a mouth ulcer as a result of eating too much. If you have not experienced this problem, it may be worth trying a little fresh pineapple, while carefully monitoring your ulcer to see if it feels better or not. If it helps, eat some more. If not, you may wish to avoid pineapple while you have a mouth ulcer.
Bicarbonate of soda and mouth ulcers
If your ulcer is bad enough to cause pain through the day, and if you have no coconut oil available, you may wish to try a paste of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) with a little water. Be warned that this stings horribly when you apply it to an ulcer; sufficiently so that it may bring tears to your eyes. However the sting, if you can bear it, will reduce quite rapidly as the bicarbonate of soda works to neutralise acids in your mouth, and when you rinse it out, you should find some relief from the pain for an hour or two.
Toothpaste and mouth ulcers
Since mouth ulcers are made worse by the acidity in our mouths, and are irritated by any specks of food that touch them, you may find that brushing your teeth with a tiny amount of toothpaste several times a day will ease the pain. You can even try spreading a small dab of toothpaste over the ulcer, although this may cause stinging similar to that of bicarbonate of soda, but should then reduce the pain. It is important, of course, not to swallow any toothpaste.