What is mouth sores?

A painful sore or ulcer inside your mouth may make it hard to eat and drink. Be sure to let your doctor know you are having mouth sores. You may need to have your medicines adjusted. And try some of the following home treatment measures to help ease pain and speed healing.

What to eat and drink

• Drink a lot of water.
• Suck on ice chips, or try chilled foods, such as frozen ice pops, ice cream, or frozen yogurt.
• Try warm liquids, such as tea or soup.
• Eat soft, bland foods that are easy to swallow, such as ice cream, custard, applesauce, cottage cheese, macaroni and cheese, soft-cooked eggs, yogurt, or cream soups.
• Cut foods into small pieces, or grind, mash, blend, or puree foods.
• Stay away from:
  • Spicy and salty foods, coffee, chocolate, citrus fruits, and tomatoes.
  • Nuts, seeds, or potato chips or crackers that can scrape your mouth.
  • Fizzy drinks, alcoholic drinks, and all tobacco products.
  • Anything that is sweet or too hot or too cold if it makes your mouth hurt.

How to keep your mouth clean

• Rinse your mouth several times a day. You can use 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/8 teaspoon salt, followed by rinsing your mouth with plain water.
• Use an extra-soft toothbrush and a mild toothpaste.
  • You can soften your toothbrush in hot water before using it. If using a toothbrush is too painful, try using soft foam mouth swabs.
  • Stay away from whitening toothpastes because they can irritate a sore mouth.
• Gently floss your teeth and use a mouthwash that doesn't have alcohol in it.
• If your mouth is dry, try sugarless gum or candy. Or talk to your doctor about using a saliva substitute to keep your mouth moist.

How to reduce pain

• Use a straw for drinking liquids.
• Make a thin paste of baking soda and water and apply it to the sore. Or you can use a cotton swab to dab your sores with a liquid antacid, such as Maalox or Mylanta.

Try using a nonprescription medicine such as Anbesol or Orabase to coat your mouth sores before eating. If your child is under 2 years of age, ask your doctor if you can give your child numbing medicines.

To help ease pain, use a nonprescription medicine, such as Amosan, Anbesol, Gly-Oxide, Orabase, or Zilactin. Check with a doctor for correct dosage before using any of these on a baby or child.

If painful mouth sores are keeping you from being able to eat, talk to your doctor. He or she may prescribe medicines that can help with mouth pain.

Mouth sores may make eating and talking painful. The most common mouth sores are cold sores and canker sores. In severe cases of canker sores, a doctor may prescribe a medicine to ease inflammation and pain.

Other possible causes of mouth sores include:

• Impetigo. Symptoms may include oozing, honey-colored, crusty sores that appear on the face, usually between the upper lip and nose. Impetigo is more common in children than adults.
• Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (Coxsackie virus), in children. Ulcers may appear on the inside of the cheeks and on the gums and sides of the tongue. These symptoms may also occur with a blister-type rash on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. The infection often goes away on its own in about 7 to 10 days.
• Herpangina (Coxsackie virus). The virus most commonly occurs in the summer and autumn. It starts with a high fever, sore throat, headache, and a general feeling of illness (malaise). Usually, painful sores (ulcers) develop in the back of the mouth, especially the soft palate, within 24 to 48 hours of the fever. The illness lasts 7 to 10 days.
• Medicines. Chemotherapy, sulfa drugs, phenytoin (such as Dilantin), and gold compounds are a few examples of medicines that can cause mouth sores.
• Inflammation of the gum and mouth tissue (gingivostomatitis), which is common in children. A child who has gum sores and a fever or who does not feel well should be evaluated by a health professional.
• Chickenpox. Chickenpox sores in the mouth look different than chickenpox on the body. In the mouth, the sores look like raised bumps (papules) and then turn into shallow ulcers. Sores on the body crust over after the blister stage, but crusting does not occur in the mouth.
• Injury. Tongue ulcers may result from biting, chewing, or burning of the tongue.
• Piercings. Mouth, tongue, and lip sores can be caused by the piercing itself or by irritation from the jewelry used in the piercing.
• Oral cancer, which may develop in any part of the oral cavity. Your chances of getting oral cancer are increased if you smoke, use smokeless (chew) tobacco, or use alcohol excessively.
• Skin diseases. Blisters in the mouth can be caused by immune system diseases, such as lichen planus, pemphigus vulgaris, pemphigoid, lupus, or erythema multiforme.