Causes
What causes mouth ulcers?
There are two key types of mouth ulcer
Injury mouth ulcers
These can be caused when the mouth is burned by hot food or drinks, when you bite the inside of your mouth or when the mouth is aggravated by a toothbrush, brace, denture or a rough tooth. Forming a physical barrier over ulcers with Iglu Gels can help shield them from further harm.
Recurrent mouth ulcers
As the name suggests, these ulcers come and go. They can sometimes appear in clusters of up to half a dozen or so. Recurrent ulcers tend to be round and the size of a pencil top. Try to take care of yourself, as being stressed or run-down can trigger recurrent mouth ulcers.
In very rare cases, mouth ulcers can be confused with oral cancer
It is very important that you tell your orthodontist, dentist or doctor if you have a mouth ulcer that lasts for more than 3 weeks or keeps coming back. National guidance suggests urgent referral in the case of persistent unexplained ulcers to exclude the rare possibility of oral cancer, which can benefit from early diagnosis and treatment.
Make healthy choices
Try not to let yourself get run-down – a healthy lifestyle could make you less prone to mouth ulcers. Unfortunately though, many trigger factors are not within our control - so it's important to know how to treat mouth ulcers when we do get them.
You can’t catch them by kissing
Or even by sharing drinks and utensils. That’s because mouth ulcers aren’t caused by an infection.
Mouth ulcers are very common
Over 20% of us will suffer from mouth ulcers at some point in our lives.
Mouth ulcers are
very common
Over 20% of us will suffer from mouth ulcers at some point in our lives.
You can't catch
them by kissing
Or even by sharing drinks and utensils. That’s because mouth ulcers aren’t caused by an infection.
Make healthy
choices
Try not to let yourself get run-down – a healthy lifestyle could make you less prone to mouth ulcers. Unfortunately though, many trigger factors are not within our control - so it's important to know how to treat mouth ulcers when we do get them.