By canker sores there are iching sores in the mouth, most often at the inner side of the lips or cheeks. The sores can also be somewhat hollow, as if the mucosa or skin has been arouded away. The areas are sharply confined against healthy mucosa and usually small, 1 cm in diameter is a typical size. The sores can be red, but very often they are white or yellow due to an outer couting.

They develop rather quickly within 2 or 3 days and after that heal slowly within 14 days, usually without leaving any scar. Canker sores have a tendensy to develop if the mucosa have got a mechanical or chemically induced damage in the first place, for example if one bites oneself in the lip or inner ckeek, or if the mind or body is subjected to stress and bad nutrition or one has a food allergy. They often develop in women around the menstrual period. All ages can get canker sores, but they are most frequent in persons around 20.

Causes of the canker sores

One do not know what exactly the causes the sores. The way they develop seems to sugest an infection by virus or a reaction against substances produced by bacteria in the mouth, but they are not due to bacterial infections in the ordinary sense in the first place. The sores can however be infected secondarily. The white coating is parteially due to growth of bacteria or fungi at the top of the sores.

Treatment of canker sores

There is no effective standard pharmacological treatment of canker sores, only treatment to alleviate pain or to protect the sores from being irritated from things one eats or during tooth brush.

Oral pain medication used are acetominophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen (Advil).

Medication to protect the sores from irritation  are  usually applied directly on the sores Drugs used for this purpose are Anbesol, Orajel, Orabase and Zilactin-B.

You can also get patches to place over the sores. Such patches will transform into a gelatinous mass that protects the sores and alleviate pain in ca 12 hours before a new patch must be applied.

When applying the topical medicines, the sores must be dried with for example a cotton swab, then the medicin is put on and then one must not drink or eat anything in 30 minutes.

Blendings to flush the mouth can also be used to relieve pain and protect the sores against irritants. A mixture of milk of magnesia and Benadryl Allergy mixture may be effective for this purpose. You take one teaspoon of the mixture in your mouth for one minutes every 5th hour.

For sores that do not heal due to excessive inflammation or secondary infections, doctors may prescribe antiinflammatory agents like Aphthasol or Kenalog blended with Orabase or antibiotica like tetracycline.

Some herbs or natural substances or blendings of natural substances may stimulate the sores to heal faster. Substances that may help are: Vitamion C, vitamin B complexes, lysin, chamomille, sage, folic acid, vitamin B12 (cyancobalamin), iron (ferous fumarate), Zink oxide,  L-glutamine, Licorice.

Chamomille and sage can be taken as tea and such teas can be used to flush the mouth with.

Since canker sores often are associated with bad nutrition, supplements of certain vitamions and minerals may also help to prevent such sores.

Halitosis is also called by names like: oral malodor, breath odor, mouth odor, foul breath, fetor oris, fetor ex ore.

Causes of halitosis

Halitosis is the product of substances excreted by bacteria in the mouth. It can also be produced by decaying rests of food in the mouth, from pus or decaying tissues during infections or from decaying glandular secrets.

Most often the bad breath is due to substances produced by bacteria living naturally in the mouth without there being any infection. The smell in these cases most often originates from the back of the tongue. In these instances the bacterial content csn be increased for some reason, for example because of diet habits or difficulty with hygiene. A too small production of saliva can increase the tendency of having bad smelling breath, since the saliva content cleaning substances.

The tonsils have small pockets that sometimes are enlarged. Secrets from glands in these pockets and bacteria living in the secrets can fill up and produce white props. The secrets are rich in minerals and therefore the props can be hard like small stones. The decaying matter and the bacteria in the props produce substances that smell badly. Often, but not allways there is a chronic infection around these pockets and the enlargement is often due to infections.

Bad breath is often produced by infection in the teeth, superficial infection aound the teeth (infectious gingivitis) and deeper infection around the teeth (infectious periodontitis). Bad breath often originate from widened pockets around the teeth that host bacteria that nourish on content trapped in the pockets. Such pockets are often due to an infection or poor dental work.

Much of the smell in all those instances is due to sulphurous and nitrous compund produced by the bacteria processing protein vastes trapped in narrow places or adhering to rugged surfaces.

Treatment of halitosis

There are several measures that can be used to treat halitosis.

A good daily dental and oral hygiene will in most instances improve the condition. In adition to brushing the teeth, gentle cleaning of the back of the tongue each day can help. This can be done with a soft tooth brush.

If there is a chronic infection in the toncils, this should be treated. White props in the tonsils can often be pressed out by a gentle pressures on the tonsils. A doctor can also help to clean the props out. In order to hinder props from reappearing, the pockets can be widened or removed by laser treatment.

The teeth should be regularily repaired by the dentist. If good oral hyigiene is not enough to clear infections around the teeth, the dentist can clean up the areas or the pockets can be removed surgically.

Gargling with a mouth-wash that flushes the bacteria away can be used before times when it is important that you are presenting a pleasurable breath.

Chewing on a gum can make your produce more saliva and thereby counteract bad breath.

Many natural substance help to reduce bacterial growth in the mouth and mouth cleansers, losengers or tablets containing those susbtances can be useful. Such substances are: Eucalyptus oil, Xylitol, folic acid, Lactoferin and thyme.

Substances that help maintaing good tissue health around the teeth are also useful. Vitamin C seems to stimulate healing in these tissues and can make the inner defence against infections better.

The bad breath can be alleviated by tablets, chewing gums and losengers containing zink oxide. This substance neutralizes the sulphorous compounds produced by the bacteria.

Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen in the air or other airborn allergens like the spores of fungi and mould.

The pollen is inhaled and comes onto the eyes and cause the allergic reactions.

IT usually worsens during the pollination period in spring or summer and alleviates in the seasons where plants are not i full blossom. Sometims the allergy is a reaction against one specific plant's pollen and will typically blush up when that plant is in flower.

Prominent symptoms of high fever are stuffy nose foll of rinning secretions and sneezing. Other common symptom are red and red eyes with tears rinning. Still other symptoms are itching in the nose, around the tonsils, in the ear and in the skin. Fatigue and trouble with sleeping can also occur.

15-20 percent of the population in the USA suffer from high fever to some degeree. For some reason the frequency of this condition is increasing in the western countries. In some countries it has doubled in the last 15 years.

By this disease as by other allergic diseases the body's immune system reacts against substances it should not react against. Tissue hormones like histamine is released causing dilation of blood vessels and edema in the tissues.  Antibodies are produced and these react with the substances. Mechanisms to tidy up complexes of antibodies combined with the substances are evoked. All these activities produce the symptoms of hay fever.

The basic origin of this faulty reatcion is not quite clear. In some families there is a genetic predisposition for allergy, including hay fever. Environmental factors are obviously also contributing causal components, and these are increasing in the environment of the western countries. People, especially children, with nasal polyps tend to have greater risk of getting hay fever. Hay fever often comes together with other allergic reactions. A person that allready have another type of allergy runs a greater risk of also getting hay fever.

By pronounced hay fever, environmental factors known to increase the symptoms should be avoided.

Gargling and flushing the nose and backside of the mouth with warm salty water can help against hay fever.

Anti-histamines and leuchotriene inhibitors can help. These drugs inhibit the action of tissue hormons such that the symptoms alleviate. These are found both as oral medications and nasal sprays. Some of them are nonprescription drugs and some are got after prescription.

They can however make you drawsy and this produces a risk when driving or operating mashineries.

Often it will be best to take the medicines before the symptoms occur when seasons, situations or circumstances known to cause the symptoms approach, or taking them regularily thoughout these seasons.

Anti-congestants in form of spray or drops will be useful.

Immunnotherapy is often useful to alleviate the symptoms of hay fever. By this therapy small but steadily increasing amounts of the allergen is injected under the skin repeteadly during many months. Thereby the immune system gets used to the presense of the allergen without reacting so much.

You can find drugs with the mentioned effects both of the synthetic farmacological types and based on herbs and other natural ingredients. The natural products will often not give symptoms like drawsiness.

Asthma: A condition where a person experiences repeted asthmatic attacs or is susceptible for such attacs. By an asthmatic attack, the inside muscles of the bronchs constrict and the bonchs also swell inside. This causes difffioculty fo breath, especially to breath in. Asthma is usually caused by allergic reactions.

Bronchs: This are the branches of the thrachea going to each lung.

Bronchioli: These are brtanches of the bonchs inside the lungs.

Allergy: A reaction, and often an exaggerated one,  from the immune system against some substance that normally should not produce such a reaction. This reaction will cause symptoms of inflammation.

Hay fever: An allergy against pollen from grass species or other plants. Hay fever usually occur in periods with intensive pollination.

Chronic: A disease lasting a long time, or not residing at all is called chronic.

Pathogen: Any living organism or substance causing disease, is called a pathogen, for example virus, bacteria or substances causing allergy.

Inflammation: Inflammation is the bodiy's protective reactions against a dangerous substance or organism or after an injury. The inflammation process consists of the following parts:

-The coagulation of the blood to stop bleeding.

-Reactions in the tissue to let the immune system get easy access to the area attacked , for example greater vessel permeability, higher blood stream throughout an area and swelling.  

-The reaction by the immune system against dangerous substances or objects, for example the antibody reaction against harmfull substances.

-Processes with the purpose of tiding up after the attack. This is mostly done by eater cells of various kind.

-The initial part of the repair process after the attack.

Inflammation is often wrongly confused with infection. An infection will cause an inflammation, but there may be inflammation without infection. Sometimes inflammation occur when it is not necessary, and then it is harmful, for example by allergy.

Histamine: This is a substance produced by some cells in the body and released when the immune system reacts against some substance. Histamine causes meny of the inflammation reactions, like dilated blood vessels and swellings.

Trachea: This is the tubular part of the airpipe from the throut down to the bronchs.