How To Handle Sores On Your Mouth Or Tongue

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Do You Have Recurring Sores In You Mouth Or Tip Of Your Tongue That Gets Tender & Sore?

The most common cause of recurrent sores on the tongue is aphthous stomatitis, or canker sores. These sores usually occur one or two at a time, last seven to 10 days, and are quite painful, especially when eating acidic foods. They may recur several times a year or even every month or two. The cause is unknown but they are otherwise harmless and are not clearly associated with any single nutritional deficiency or illness.

There are some research studies suggesting that up to 20 percent of canker sores are due to lack of folic acid, iron or vitamin B12, but other researchers have been unable to confirm this. A general medical evaluation to identify one of these problems should be able to determine whether your tongue sores are related to a nutritional deficiency. In addition, it might be wise to take a multivitamin (as is often recommended routinely, even for people without canker sores).

Otherwise, treatment of canker sores includes topical pain relievers (such as benzocaine found in many over-the-counter preparations), warm water rinses and avoiding foods that aggravate the pain. For severe cases, prescription medications, including rinses with corticosteroids, can provide relief.

See your doctor to sort out the cause of and best treatment for your tongue sores; there are simple and readily available tests to determine whether you have a deficiency in folic acid, iron or vitamin B12. In addition, your doctor can review any other symptoms you have and perform a physical examination that could suggest one of the conditions above that can cause oral ulcers.

However, if you have the most common form of canker sores, a vitamin or mineral deficiency is unlikely to explain them and they will not improve by taking vitamins. If that's the case, the best treatment of all may be the passage of time.

Mercury Fillings

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So you've got a really old, veteran filling sitting in your mouth that was originally made with mercury, a terribly poisonous chemical and one that has not be used in fillings for many years.

Fortunately, just as buildings with asbestos don't need the asbestos replaced unless the building is being renovated, you don't need to get that mercury out of your mouth unless the filling pops out or is otherwise damaged. The American Dental Association has ruled that there isn't enough mercury in the filling material to actually do you any harm, so you're fine letting it be.

If, however, the silver coloring of the filling bothers you and you want a more natural, white-colored filling, you should first check to see whether your dental plan will cover such a replacement. Some dental plans work under a least expensive alternative treatment policy and will not cover a new filling that is being put in for purely cosmetic reasons.

Even though you don't have to worry about replacing your mercury fillings, if you still want to replace them you should consult your plan provider to see if they will cover the procedure.

Reoccurring Headaches Linked To Dental Pain

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Could that nagging headache and painful jaw be tied to your oral health? Many headache sufferers might want to consult their dentist as well as their doctor since headaches and dental pain have a lot in common, says Director of the Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Graduate Program at the USC School of Dentistry Glenn Clark.

Pain centered in the nerves and muscles running throughout the face and neck, as well as poor habits the discomfort may cause, can trap sufferers in a painful feedback loop, with head pain triggering jaw and neck pain and vice versa.

"Headaches and toothaches all transmit through the trigeminal nerve, the largest sensory nerve in the head that supplies the external face, scalp, jaw, teeth and much of the intra-oral structures," Clark says. "Pain in one branch of the nerve has the potential to activate other branches of the nerve, and when that pain is chronic and sustained, it is more likely to trigger a sequence of events that might lead to a headache. In people who have headaches, a continuous, sustained toothache can easily trigger one of the episodic headaches such as migraines."

Besides the close anatomical links between head, face and jaw pain, reflexive behaviors caused by pain and tension such as jaw clenching and muscle tightening can exacerbate and transfer pain.

When head and face pain spring from tooth or jaw joint injury, such as when a patient unknowingly clenches or grinds their teeth for long periods of time and damages tissue inside and below the teeth, it can be difficult for a physician to decipher the cause of the pain, he says. That's where a dentist with a trained eye for the medical and behavioral causes of orofacial pain comes in.

"In general, headaches don't have physical signs, and diagnosis is all related to the history and pattern of the pain," Clark says. "If the patient is being treated for the migraines, tension headaches or sinus pains and the medications or other methods of treatment given by the physician are not effective, they are often referred to a dentist for evaluation. At the Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Center, we actually receive a number of patients from physicians who want us to check the teeth and the jaw joints for problems."

Cancer Risk Linked To Gum Disease

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At first gum disease was linked to heart disease. Now it seems it's also linked to cancer as well. Maybe now people will see their dentist more often

According to an article published in the highly prestigious The Lancet Oncology, researchers at the imperial College of London (UK) found that people with gum disease have a higher overall risk of cancer, whether or not they're smokers and nonsmokers.

The researchers discovered that after adjusting for details about the history of smoking, dietary factors, and other known risk factors, participants with a history of gum disease were 14% more likely to develop any type of cancer compared to those without history of gum disease.

Looking at specific cancer risks, those with a history of gum disease had the following increases in cancer risk compared to those without a history of gum disease:

Lung Cancer (36%),
Kidney Cancer (49%),
Pancreatic Cancer (54%),
Hematological Cancer (30%).

Gum disease, such as periodontis or gingivitis, is associated with increased concentrations of inflammatory markers in the blood. There is some debate, however, about whether this systemic inflammation, the pathogenic invasion into the blood stream, or the immune response to gum infection could possibly affect cancer risk, overall or at specific sites.

The article authors summarize their results this way; "Gum disease was associated with a small, but significant, increase in overall cancer risk, which persisted in never-smokers. The associations recorded for lung cancer are probably because of residual confounding by smoking. The increased risks noted for haematological, kidney, and pancreatic cancers need confirmation, but suggest that gum disease might be a marker of a susceptible immune system or might directly affect cancer risk."

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