What is a canker sore?
The annoying pain of canker sores... Canker sores are the little, white, shallow sores that can occur inside the mouth. They're painful and can make it hurt to talk or swallow. They make people more hesitant to eat anything spicy or acidic. Is there any good way to find relief for this pain?
The technical name for a canker sore is "aphathous stomatitis." These aren't cold sores that can occur out on the lips and are a viral infection. This is a simple sore that is very common and doesn't stick around very long. They are pretty quick to resolve. If you get one, it's an annoyance; if you get several, it's very unpleasant. You know it'll get better in a few days—it'll close up and heal up eventually—but it can definitely be annoying, and when this happens in children, it can be a little more than annoying: When kids develop these sores, their day-to-day routines such as eating breakfast, talking to their teachers in school, or interacting with their friends are disrupted. This can cause stress, which they might already be experiencing...
What causes canker sores?
Stress is actually a trigger to the sores. There are other factors, too, like immune-system problems, genetics, food allergens, nutritional deficiencies, and hormone changes.
There's plenty of evidence that red light can do a lot for pain reduction and superficial healing, so a group of researchers took red light and applied it to canker sores to see if they could heal them faster. Here is the study: "Photobiomodulation therapy for the management of recurrent aphthous stomatitis in children: clinical effectiveness and parental satisfaction." It’s light therapy for recurring canker sores; does it work and are parents okay with it? Parents need to be ok with their children's treatments and appointments if this is going to be successful, so that's an important factor they considered. If you're a parent, you want to make sure that you're not having to run to multiple appointments each week, or putting your kids on some crazy nutrition regimen, or having them take a whole bunch of medications. Most parents would prefer their kids to be on as few medications as possible.
If a canker sore problem is recurring for a period of time, there are medications to modulate the immune system in a fairly negative way to try and prevent those attacks from occurring. There are also mouthwashes and herbs and several other treatments. But the researchers' idea was that maybe we can just use light therapy to help control this without it being a burden to the parents while still being good and beneficial and without side effects for the kids.
Just 3 laser treatments!
What the researchers did is they took kids that were having this recurrent canker sore problem, and they applied only about 30 seconds of red laser at a very low power on each site that was irritated inside the mouth. They did that for three days in a row; then they checked the kids at both day four and day ten. They saw that all the kids who got laser were experiencing less pain and quicker resolution of those sores than the sham group (the group that got fake laser treatments) experienced.
When comparing the group that received laser treatments versus the group that only thought they were getting lasered, the researchers saw a big difference: The group that actually got laser had much better pain relief, and much quicker healing compared to the group that didn't. So, just three days in a row at approximately 30 seconds per session offered the trial group great results. The authors of this study also said the parents accepted the procedure well and "didn't complain of any problems regarding the time spent for multiple appointments." They said, "this is probably due to the fact that the parents of children with canker sores consider these debilitating lesions deserving of any attempt to alleviate symptoms."
We speculate that the parents especially had this approach because laser therapy doesn't have any side effects or real risks. When we compare low-power, visible red laser against the immune-modulating drugs and mouthwashes that have to be done four times a day—or against other remedies such as mucosal barrier gel or topical steroids—there is not much of a competition. Laser wins.
LTI providers have already seen this for years now in practice, so it's encouraging to see research reiterating those observations we've had. We've treated some intense cases in children who had about 10-15 canker sores at a time. It made simple, everyday acts like eating so miserable. Moreover, the patient was 13 years old and having to deal with school and friends and all those things, so having the sores on top of it was overwhelming. To be able to treat those sores and have them almost immediately be painless and then to close up and heal much quicker after just a few treatments... as you can imagine, it made a huge difference! Also, the patient and the parents now know that the next time another episode happens, that patient can come in and get a couple of quick treatments that will quickly help resolve the issue. That made them happy and relieved.
Don't discount minor issues.
Although helpful for them, laser isn't limited to solely treating extremely serious conditions like arthritic knees or neuropathy or stroke or addiction. It can also be very effective in providing quick pain relief for these less serious, self-limiting disorders. So don't hesitate to visit a laser provider for even minor issues.
