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Stomatitis – Causes and symptoms

When someone has sore and inflamed mouth which can disrupt a person’s ability to sleep, talk and eat, then this condition is known as stomatitis. This condition can happen in every place of your mouth such as lips, cheeks, palate and tongue.

Types of stomatitis

Here are the types of stomatitis:

  • Cold sores: Cold sores are also known as fever blisters. They are full of fluid which can happen around or on your lips. They can form on your gums and on the roof of your mouth but this condition is not so common. When you have cold sores, then you can have burning, tingling and tenderness before the sores appear.
  • Canker sores: This kind of sore is known as aphthous ulcer. This is a yellow ulcer or single pale which have a cluster of such ulcers in your mouth or a red outer ring which can appear on your tongue, inside of your lips and cheeks.
  • Mouth irritation: When you have a mouth irritation, then this condition can be caused by many causes such as:
  1. Receiving radiation as part of the cancer treatment
  2. Burning one’s mouth from hot food or drinks
  3. Taking certain drugs such as chemotherapy, antibiotics, medications used for rheumatoid arthritis or epilepsy medications
  4. Having gum disease (a condition which is known as gingivitis) or other type of mouth infection
  5. Having certain autoimmune diseases affecting the mucosal lining of the mouth such as lupus, Crohn’s disease or Behcet’s disease
  6. Biting your cheek, tongue or lip
  7. Chewing tobacco
  8. Wearing braces or another type of dental apparatus or having a sharp or broken tooth
  9. Having hypersensitivity to certain things such as foods or medicines

Symptoms of stomatitis

  1. Canker sores:

Here are the symptoms of the canker sores:

  • They can be painful
  • When you have canker sores, then they usually last from five to ten days
  • This type of stomatitis tend to come back
  • When you have stomatitis usually you do not have fever
  1. Cold sores:

Here are the symptoms of the cold sores:

  • When you have cold sores, then they are usually painful
  • They are usually gone from seven to ten days
  • When you have stomatitis, then they are usually associated with flu or cold symptoms

If you have noticed some of the previous mentioned symptoms, then you should talk with your doctor. He or she will give you the right medical or natural remedy for your type of stomatitis.

Causes of stomatitis

  1. Causes of canker sores: The real cause for this type of stomatitis is still not known. There are many things which can lead to canker sores such as trauma to the mouth, stress, certain medications, poor nutrition, lack of sleep, viruses or bacteria, sudden weight loss and some foods such as nuts, cheese, potatoes, coffee, citrus fruits and chocolate. This kind of stomatitis can be related with low levels of Vitamin B12, low levels of folate, hormonal changes, cold and flu. Even chewing a sharp piece of food or biting the inside of your cheek can trigger the canker sores. Also this kind of stomatitis can be caused by genetic predispositions which are not contagious disease. This kind of cause is considered as autoimmune disease. Women can have the canker sores more compared with men. There is a study in USA in which is shown that about 20% of people who live in USA will have canker sores in some period of their life.
  2. Causes of cold sores: When you have a virus known as herpes simplex type 1, then this can lead to cold sores. In the period when the blister ruptures and till the time when the blister completely heals, then this kind of stomatitis is contagious. This kind of infections often happens in our adult ages and in many cases this kind of disease is confused with other kinds of diseases. When some individual is affected with this kind of disease, then the virus stays in its body and it becomes dormant. This kind of virus is reactivated with other conditions such as fever, stress, exposure to sunlight, trauma and hormonal changes which can happen when women are in their menstrual period. When the cold sore reappears again, then it usually appears in the previous place. If another individual gets this kind of stomatitis virus from you, then this virus can affect other parts of our body such as genitals or eyes.

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