“Canker sore or wisdom teeth?”

Hi,

You need to see a dr. for your wisdom teeth and prescription of antiviral medication for your canker sores.

The canker sore could be due to the acidic lemon juice. Make sure you rinse your mouth after any soda or acidic drink with water. Also, CVS and Walgreens have canker bandages in the dental aisle which is a clear gel patch in a circle shape that you can put over the canker while it heals to make it feel better. Also, your wisdom teeth may be trying to come in at your age and putting pressure on the other teeth and gums and causing their own type of pain. You can get those evaluated, too.

Dr. Bishop

Unfortunately there is no great treatment for canker sores (or apthous ulcers). You have to wait that one out. Usually 2 weeks. If it persists longer than that, see your dentist.

ACV is acidic and won't help either problem. Canker sores are caused by a virus, and you have to count on your immune system to get it to go away. That usually takes 14 days from the time you noticed it. In the meantime, you can help with the pain by going to the drug store and getting some Zilactin or a topical anesthetic that the pharmacist recommends. Those things DO NOT make the canker sore go away any faster, just helps with the pain.

Canker sores usually develop due to stress or a change in environment. The addition of something acidic like ACV and lemon juice can cause enough of a change in the pH of your oral environment to cause canker sores to develop. Orabase or Oragel can be helpful topically until the canker sore heals. There are also products that can be used like Debactrol which will
help even more, but must be placed by a dental care provider. Halting the ACV and lemon juice for several days to allow the pH to normalize would be recommended. If this sore heals and then you initiate the ACV and lemon juice again and the canker sores recur, then this may be your body telling you that it does not like this combination and it would be best not to
continue. A visit to your dentist would definitely be recommended to evaluate the wisdom teeth and determine the best treatment for them.

There are multiple issues that you refer to. First: apple cider vinegar is very acidic and can harm your teeth unless you are following its consumption with excellent home care. You should always rinse thoroughly with water after drinking ACV, floss and brush. I see patients all the time who are complaining of extreme cold sensitivity and the first question I ask them is: Are you drinking APV? Almost always the answer is yes. Next question: canker sores. I have not seen what you have in your mouth, so it is impossible for me to know exactly what is going on, but typically there is some sort of trauma that starts the process of forming a canker sore. There are some people that tell me that acidic foods stir them up, so your ACV could be part of the issue. If you implement the home care regimen that I suggested, you should be able to remove that from the factors. The third issue is your wisdom teeth. At 17, your wisdom teeth are in the process of coming in and the tissue over them commonly gets sore, from it being squeezed between the upper and lower wisdom teeth as they erupt, and that could be a part of your discomfort. My suggestion is to follow the home care regimen and get your wisdom teeth out. They are probably at a good position to remove them and leaving them longer may only make their removal more difficult and more expensive.

Dr. Lieblong