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[Chuck(G)]

I get canker sores from time to time--I've always had them for as long as I can remember. And they're the genuine article--they can crop up anywhere (even in the back of the throat or the underside of the tongue) on the gums. Severe cases have multiple large eruptions.

Over the decades, I've noted that I'll get them when I'm not rested or have been ill. Watch what you eat and get sufficient rest. As a stopgap, I find that a coating of Zylactin (available OTC) keeps them from getting too irritated while playing. Good oral hygiene also seems to help. Taking preventative doses of l-lysine has no effect for me, but B-complex seems to speed healing a bit.

Back in the old days, I used to paint them with a solution of gentian violet (purple teeth, anyone?) or cauterize them with a silver nitrate stick (hurt like the dickens and didn't do any good).

[TubaJulio]

I used to sometimes get canker sores often. I had gone to the dentist and he noticed one and he asked me if I had been using toothpaste with cinnamon in it or chewing some sort of cinnamon flavored food and he said that if I was I should stop.
To make a long story short I havent gotten one since.

[winston]

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[Chuck(G)]

Canker sores are a virus according to my doctor and therefore cannot be prevented completely. They are, however, usually brought on by stress of some kind. .

The opinions are varied on canker sores--some suspect a virus, some think that an auto-immune situation is at work. It's not even clear that canker sores is a single disease.

But at least in my case, I'll agree with you on stress and getting rest. But sometimes, no matter what you do (or don't do) you can't avoid life and here they come...

[Chuck(G)]

...and tomatoes (you know they are considered poisonous/a part of the nightshade family/make you have hallucinagenic type nightmares). So, any type of pizza, spaghetti, or crushed tomato will count. Just a thought

We have something like that out here in Oregon--I believe they're called "mushrooms"...

[winston]

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[dkrahl]

I found that a common ingredient in toothpaste, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, can cause canker sores. Try a toothpaste that does not have this ingredient. It has helped me greatly.

[Chuck(G)]

If your cankers are recurrent, do some reading to get better informed. Google on: "Aphthous Stomatitis", which is medical speak for "canker sores".