Mouth Ulcer Treatments - Preventing Mouth Ulcers

While it’s not possible to prevent mouth ulcers caused by medical or genetic factors, there are several behaviours you can adopt which can help to reduce the chance of ulceration taking place. Making simple changes to your diet, your dental hygiene routine and to other aspects of your life can potentially help you avoid mouth ulcers.

Problematic Foods

Certain foods are known to trigger mouth ulcers if you are prone to them. Pay attention to what you eat and note if you’re frequently getting ulcers after eating specific foods. Alternatively, you could organise an allergy patch test with a healthcare professional which may suggest which foods you personally should avoid. Some foods that are known to encourage the onset of mouth ulcers include:

Additionally, avoid chewing gum if you commonly suffer from mouth ulcers.

Hard foods have also been known to cause mouth ulcers as we can sometimes damage the mouth on sharp or abrasive foods while eating, resulting in ulceration. For more information on the types of foods that could be contributing to your mouth ulcers, check out our blog here.

Dental Hygiene

A regular morning and evening routine for brushing your teeth is, of course, essential for maintaining overall oral health. Alongside this, using a soft-bristled toothbrush may help to prevent the onset of a mouth ulcer, as can switching to a toothpaste which doesn’t contain sodium lauryl sulphate. 

Ulcers can appear due to poorly fitting dentures, braces, a damaged filling or a particularly sharp tooth; if any of these seem to be the cause of your problem, book an appointment with your dentist or orthodontist to discuss how they can help to resolve the issue.

Other contributing factors

As with many health concerns, mouth ulcers can be connected to high levels of stress and anxiety. Finding ways to reduce these through exercise, mindfulness, purposeful communication, and a variety of other methods could help to prevent ulcers appearing.

Hormonal changes may also be a reason you are suffering with mouth ulcers. This is likely to be outside of your control, and therefore unpreventable, but in this case, as with any of those above, you can find ways of reducing the discomfort caused by the ulcer through various mouth ulcer treatments.

Some medications have also been linked to the production of mouth ulcers; if your ulcers have appeared in conjunction with a new prescription, arrange to speak with your GP or Pharmacists about possible alternatives.

Ultimately, paying close attention to your eating and dental habits may help you to ascertain what is causing your mouth ulcers, and consequently inform your future choices in order to prevent further ulcers from appearing.

Anbesol Adult Strength Gel, for mouth ulcer pain relief. Always read the label. Not for use in infant teething. 

References:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/mouth/mouth-ulcer
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/canker-sore/symptoms-causes/syc-20370615

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