Canker Sores, aphthous ulcers

Canker Sores = Aphthous Ulcers

A lot of patients confuse the terminology for cold sores and canker sores.  They may use many other words such as:  fever blisters, sun blisters, herpes labialis, herpes type I, and apthous ulcers without understanding the difference.  This section discusses canker sores; cold sores are discussed in the next section. 

Canker sores are aphthous ulcers.  They usually occur as a solitary, larger lesion that appears on the red oral tissues like the inside of the cheek.  They can also be quite painful.  Canker sores are not considered a sexually transmitted disease.  People may get them with irregular frequency and they can be associated with stress or during immune supression like when getting the flu.  Canker sores usually last for seven to ten days. 

Treatment:  We offer a new treatment for Canker Sores in our office that can greatly reduce the severity and duration of an outbreak.  The treatment is relatively painless and takes only a few minutes.

To see comparative photographs click on "Dental Photos" at the top of this page and then click on "Aphthous Ulcer" in the left margin. Hundreds of photographs are in this section.

This material is presented for patient information.  Patients need to be diagnosed and treated by their dentist or doctor.