How to Keep Canker Sores from Coming Back
The pain caused by canker sores can interfere with various activities, such as when talking, eating, and drinking. For some people, canker sores are a problem that often comes back and is hard to go away. How to keep canker sores from coming back is actually not difficult, but it must be done regularly. By doing this, you can avoid canker sores that often recur and cause pain.
How to Stop Canker Sores from Coming Back
Generally, canker sores begin with small sores on the walls of the mouth, dry mouth, unclean mouth or lack of certain nutrients. For this reason, it is very important to maintain oral hygiene and health and to meet the nutritional intake needed so as not to often get canker sores.
Although it can't be completely avoided, there are several ways to prevent canker sores that you can do to reduce the appearance of canker sores again.
1. Caring for and maintaining oral hygiene
To prevent canker sores from reappearing, you can maintain oral hygiene.
- Brush your teeth 2 times a day. Make sure to use a soft-bristled, good-quality toothbrush that fits the shape of your mouth.
- Use dental floss to clean food debris stuck between your teeth.
- Avoid using toothpastes and mouthwashes that contain sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).
- Do not forget to check your teeth to the dentist regularly every 6 months.
2. Prevent dry mouth
The emergence of canker sores can also be caused by dry mouth, to avoid this there are several steps you can take.
- Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day (2 liters).
- Avoid foods and drinks that are too sour or sweet.
- Limit caffeine intake and stop smoking.
- Chew sugar-free gum to stimulate saliva production.
- Breathe through the nose, not through the mouth.
- Use a special mouthwash for dry mouth.
3. Apply a healthy diet
How to keep canker sores from coming back next can be by implementing a healthy diet.
- Meet the needs of B vitamins, especially vitamins B6, B9, and B12. The foods that contain these vitamins include spinach, broccoli, beets, asparagus and beef liver.
- Limit consumption of foods that can irritate the mouth, including spicy and acidic foods.
- Don't be in a hurry when you eat, let alone talk. This is so that the lips or tongue are not bitten and triggers canker sores.
Also read articles about: How to Cure Canker Sore on Tongue Fast.
In addition to doing the various ways above, you are also recommended to control stress well, because stress can trigger canker sores. Try, as much as possible to do activities that can relieve stress, ranging from exercise, recreation to meditation.
How to treat canker sores that come back
If the canker sore comes back you can treat it in a few simple ways at home, for example gargling with salt water, chewing betel leaves, smearing it with honey and compressing it with ice cubes. But if the pain caused by canker sores is very bothersome, you may need medication from a doctor. The medicine that are often given by doctors to treat canker sores that come back are as follows:
1. Ointment
Ointments to treat canker sores can be in the form of creams or gels. Usually this medicine is used to treat inflammation of canker sores. As for some ointments that are often prescribed by doctors to treat canker sores are benzocaine and triamcinolone.
2. Mouthwash
Usually the mouthwash given by the doctor to treat canker sores contains steroids or antibiotics. This content is efficacious to overcome inflammation and factors that trigger canker sores.
Before you use medicine to treat canker sores, always remember to follow the correct way of using the medicine according to the instructions for use. It is also important to know that you should avoid products that contain policresulen.
By maintaining healthy teeth and mouth and meeting nutritional intake every day, the risk of canker sores coming back will decrease. But to get maximum results, how to stop canker sores from coming back is not only done once, but must be used as a pattern of daily life.
If you have done several ways to prevent canker sores above, but canker sores still often come back, then you should check with your doctor. Especially if the canker sores you suffer from are so numerous that you have difficulty eating and drinking which ultimately interferes with your nutritional intake.