Mouth Ulcers affecting Babies and Adults

Mouth ulcers sound scary to me, I mean especially when it has to affect little babies. You know how we feel about stomach ulcers on a normal day and now it has to do with the mouth.

Bumps appearing on the gums, mouth, or tongue can create serious panic in the hearts of parents and caregivers, but even more worrisome is the pain and discomfort that it gives to babies.

These mouth ulcers are painful bumps that appear on the gums, to gue, or mouth. They can be caused by injuries, viruses, and vitamin deficiencies.


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Looking into the mouth of a child regularly will help parents easily detect that presence of mouth ulcers, and get help when necessary.

Babies may basically experience two types of mouth ulcers, known as major and minor ulcers.
Minor ulcers are small in size, round or oval shaped that stands basically at 5millimiters in diameter. Their color is most often red or yellow and they should heal within a week or two without leaving any form of scar.

Major ulcers on the other hand, are often deeper and larger, bigger than one centimeter in diameter, they could be very painful and take up to several weeks before healing, sometimes even leaving scars behind as they go.


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Mouth ulcers in babies could be as a result of these factors;

  • When a good is extra spicy or acidic, it is said to be aà sensitive type of food and may be a trigger to mouth ulcers for babies and other individuals who are usually sensitive.

  • Accidentally bitting the mouth and creating injuries can lead to the creation of mouth ulcers.

  • Irritation from teething especially when new ones are emerging could lead to ulcers in babies.

  • Situations of vitamin deficiencies can also trigger the presence of mouth ulcers.

  • Inflammation and chronic diseases, gastrointestinal disorders are other serious reasons why mouth ulcers may affect a child.

Another big question I will be answering through this post is about the symptoms that comes with mouth ulcers, or better put, how to identify mouth ulcers in a baby. A baby would experience pain even without eating anything, as well as sores on the gums, lips, tongue, roof of the mouth, and inner cheeks.

In some cases, the mouth ulcers is as a result of an underlying condition like oral thrush, and in that case an alternative treatment plan will be home for. In a case where there is no underlying condition, treatment plan will be focused on relieving pain and healing ulcers.


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Home remedies can also help out like making the baby suck on something cool, like a soaked cloth with cold water, not frozen objects. Stay away from spicy, salt, or sour food for babies that are old enough to eat.

Consistently drinking water even if it is in small sips is important to prevent dehydration and additional pain from dry mouth, breastfeeding mothers should continually breastfeed through the process.

If mouth ulcers refuse to go away within a week or it is accompanied by other symptoms, like fever, and vomiting, then the help of a doctor has to be sorted.

Although, mouth ulcers are not often contagious unless it is caused by a form of infection like foot and mouth disease.

Mouth ulcers can affects adults too and not just babies, and just like in babies it should go away within a week or two, or otherwise, it is being triggered by other underlying health conditions. There are different types of mouth sores lesions;

Oral lichen planus is a condition that can cause itchy rashes,and white sores inside the mouth. It is most often an immune system response, that is most common amongst women and older people.

Oral thrush happens as a result of overgrowth of yeast known as Candida albicans, creating fungal infection inside the mouth. It usually happens after an antibiotic treatment or when the immune system is not just as strong as it used to be. With oral thrush comes a red creamy white mouth sore and patches.

Canker sores is another type of mouth ulcers, caused by stress, acidic food, and other minor trauma 's. It is the most common form of mouth ulcers that exists.

Leukoplakia happens as a result of excessive cell growth, identified by white or gray patches inside the mouth. Chronic irritation from smoking or chewing tobacco could trigger this.

Erythroplakia also occurs as a result of chewing tobacco or smoking, but people who have this condition would experience patches that appears behind the lower front teeth or underneath the tongue. What particularly makes erythroplakia different from leukoplakia is that, these patches are often precancerous or cancerous in nature.


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Mouth ulcers appearance could also indicate the presence of mouth cancer, it would show up as red or white mouth sores. In this case as well as a few others, there is no way it would heal on its own and that's the more reason why the appearance of mouth ulcers that have lasted above three weeks needs to be reported to a medical professional instantly.

Mouth ulcers are not contagious so here is no need to panic about that, even if you kiss or share food with a person who has mouth ulcers, it cannot spread.

As mentioned earlier, normal mouth ulcers should heal by themselves, but common treatments for mouth ulcers are; antiseptic gels, steroid ointments, and immunosuppressant s when it is a servers case.

There are a couple of reasons why mouth ulcers may form in adults;

  • An accidental bite on the cheek or tongue.

  • Wearing retain we s or braces.

  • The use of harsh toothpaste.

  • Hormonal period changes.

  • The consumption of acidic foods.

  • Allergic reaction to a bacteria.

  • Minoe injury resulting from dental works.

  • Absence of sleep and proper rest.

Appropriate oral hygiene is important to help us stay away from oral issues like mouth ulcers and other possible occurrences.

For Further Studies

https://www.healthline.com/health/ulcers-in-babys-mouth#takeaway

https://www.msdmanuals.com/home/mouth-and-dental-disorders/symptoms-of-oral-and-dental-disorders/mouth-sores-and-inflammation#Causes_v750417

https://www.healthline.com/health/mouth-ulcers#treatment

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21766-mouth-ulcer



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Hi, I am Tobi, a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. If you want to hear me speak about relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.



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