How to Get Rid of Canker Sores - Alt-Medicine Approaches
The first thing you have to decide if you want to know how to get rid of canker sores is whether you want to go with traditional medicine or alternative.
There are just about an equal number of each, and alt-medicine can claim just about as much success in this area of health as traditional medicine can.
The reason for that is that there is, unfortunately, no definitive answer to how to get rid of a canker sore.
They're not caused by a virus, like cold sores are.
They're not bacterial in nature, like a lot of sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis and so forth.
The best guess for many doctors is that they are the body's response to an attack, either real or imagined.
For the strict alternative medicine practitioner, there are still a number of ways for how to get rid of cankers.
The German herb chamomile, for example, has long been used to treat everything from sore throat to skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.
Although it has been shown to reduce pain in at least one study of cankers, the data is somewhat suspect because of questionable research practices.
There is no question, however, that many people believe it effective as a canker sore treatment.
Another herb that has been used as a canker sore remedy is known as Lady's Mantle (latin name: Alchemilla vulgaris).
Although put into gel form, it was found to decrease healing time to three days in 75% of the patients in a small study (versus 40% who used traditional medicine treatments).
A third alternative approach for how to get rid of a canker sore is the use of licorice extract, or Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL).
Although varying slightly from alt-medicine practices in that it requires the use of chemicals to remove the glycyrrhizic acid, it nonetheless showed healing promise in a small study which used a DGL mouthwash in canker sore patients.
Up to 75% of the patients were "completely healed" by day three, although once again questionable research practices call the findings into question.
A final method for how to get rid of cankers involves vitamin deficiency, and taking the appropriate vitamin supplements to combat it.
Because they have been tied to a deficiency in vitamins like B1, B6, B12, C, folic acid, zinc, or iron, it may help some people to have a blood test and review the results with their doctor.
There are just about an equal number of each, and alt-medicine can claim just about as much success in this area of health as traditional medicine can.
The reason for that is that there is, unfortunately, no definitive answer to how to get rid of a canker sore.
They're not caused by a virus, like cold sores are.
They're not bacterial in nature, like a lot of sexually transmitted diseases like syphilis and so forth.
The best guess for many doctors is that they are the body's response to an attack, either real or imagined.
For the strict alternative medicine practitioner, there are still a number of ways for how to get rid of cankers.
The German herb chamomile, for example, has long been used to treat everything from sore throat to skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.
Although it has been shown to reduce pain in at least one study of cankers, the data is somewhat suspect because of questionable research practices.
There is no question, however, that many people believe it effective as a canker sore treatment.
Another herb that has been used as a canker sore remedy is known as Lady's Mantle (latin name: Alchemilla vulgaris).
Although put into gel form, it was found to decrease healing time to three days in 75% of the patients in a small study (versus 40% who used traditional medicine treatments).
A third alternative approach for how to get rid of a canker sore is the use of licorice extract, or Deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL).
Although varying slightly from alt-medicine practices in that it requires the use of chemicals to remove the glycyrrhizic acid, it nonetheless showed healing promise in a small study which used a DGL mouthwash in canker sore patients.
Up to 75% of the patients were "completely healed" by day three, although once again questionable research practices call the findings into question.
A final method for how to get rid of cankers involves vitamin deficiency, and taking the appropriate vitamin supplements to combat it.
Because they have been tied to a deficiency in vitamins like B1, B6, B12, C, folic acid, zinc, or iron, it may help some people to have a blood test and review the results with their doctor.