Mouth ulcers are a common condition that can affect anyone, although women and young adults tend to have them more often.
They are caused by a laceration of the mucus in your mouth, which becomes the painful sore spot that hurts inside your cheek.
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They are not contagious as usually they are not an infection, therefore you won’t get them if you drink from the same glass someone else has used, or if you kiss someone who has an ulcer.
Mouth ulcers clear themselves usually within 2 weeks, but if it isn’t gone in 3 weeks you might want to consider seeing a doctor.
Usually ulcers happen occasionally, however some people keep getting them fairly often, and in this case they are called recurring mouth ulcers.
Causes of Occasional Ulcers
Usually these are caused by biting the inside of your mouth while you are eating, a sharp tooth or food, or even if you brush your teeth incorrectly.
Stress and anxiety can make your more prone, although don’t go thinking that all your ulcers mean you are stressed!
Food can also be a culprit apparently, it’s said that chocolate, cheese, strawberries, coffee and a few others can increase the likelihood of mouth ulcers.
If you stop smoking you might find you have a temporary increase in ulcers, which is due to the fact that the body is dealing with the change in chemicals. Should this happen, don’t let it put you off. Not smoking is the right thing to do, and the raise in ulcer frequency is only temporary.
Ulcers tend to go away on their own, but if you want mouth ulcer treatment there are remedies you can find easily online or in drug stores.
Recurrent Ulcers
Some people have to deal with those annoying sores regularly. In this case it’s worth seeing a doctor to determine the cause, but here are some.
You lack iron. When your body doesn’t have enough of it from your diet, your red blood cells can’t carry as much oxygen, so you tend to feel tired, dizzy or not very energetic. Such lack of iron can also cause mouth ulcers.
Vitamin B12 deficiency. This can also cause shortness of breath and tiredness, as well as mouth ulcers. Natural sources of Vitamin B12 are eggs, milk, meat (especially liver), poultry and fish, so this can be fixed once again by balancing your diet.
B12 is a bit harder to get if you are vegetarian, so if your doctor thinks B12 deficiency is the cause of your ulcers, you might need to obtain food supplements.
There are also some diseases that can cause recurrent mouth ulcers, but this is something I’d leave to a doctor to decide.
Have you found any remedies that work?
Susannah Perez is a bit of a fashion victim and loves anything to do with beauty and good clothing. Here she writes for Salcura.
