Millions of people suffer in agony with the pain caused by canker sores (mouth ulcers). Although no known cure exists for canker sores, recent advances have provided hope for many canker sore sufferers.

Many canker sore sufferers have found long term relief and a major reduction in the number of canker sore occurrences. For some, using toothpastes that do not contain the ingredient sodium laurel sulfate (SLS) has brought relief. Others have found relief by eliminating from their diet certain foods like chocolate, nuts, and other foods known to cause canker sores in susceptible people.

Trauma to the inside of the mouth can trigger an outbreak of canker sores. This trauma includes biting your cheek or tongue, scraping the inside of your mouth with hard or sharp foods (like hard pretzels), and overzealous tooth brushing (brushing too hard). Because of this canker sore sufferers are encouraged to:

• Cut down on eating foods like potato chips, hard pretzels, cut apples, and hard candies which might nick, abrade, or otherwise traumatize the oral tissue.
• Stop biting the insides of their mouth or the sides of their lips. Many people do this as a nervous habit. Others tend to bite the insides of their mouth while sleeping.
• Stop brushing so hard. This causes your toothbrush to injure your teeth, gums and oral tissue.