People call Herpes ulcers and Aphthous ulcers canker sores. Usually ulcers on the mucous membranes in your mouth are Aphthous ulcers, and ulcers on the harder gingival tissues near the teeth are Herpes ulcers. These ulcers have a gray or white base surrounded by a red border.

There duration is usually one to two weeks. There are over-the-counter and prescription remedies. If they are a large enough nuisance to you, we treat them with our cold lasers. This has a antimicrobial effect and speeds healing via its biostimulation effect. We use the same treatment for Herpes labialis, commonly called cold sores and fever blisters on the lip areas.

With cold sores, you had an initial infection, usually during childhood, which include an outbreak of ulcers and a fever. The surviving viruses then build their home in some of your nerves. Whenever your resistance is down, due to illness such as a cold, or localized trauma, for example scraping an area with a toothbrush, the Herpes viruses migrate down to the nerve ending and start to multiply there. This spot becomes the “sore”, first a fluid and virus filled bubble, then the open sore.