Citrus foods, such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, limes and lemons have a pH level of about 6.5, which is fairly high on the scale of acidity. While some citrus fruits taste sweet, the acid level can cause sores on your tongue and mouth and even erosion of your teeth. If your morning grapefruit habit has resulted in painful canker sores on your gums, lips and tongue, you can help heal them using a homemade solution and reducing your citrus fruit consumption.
Step 1
Stop eating citrus fruit if you notice mouth irritation. Before a full-fledged canker sore develops, you may feel a rash-like sore on your tongue while eating or experience pain or an unpleasant tingling while consuming citrus fruit.
Step 2
Mix a solution of one part hydrogen peroxide and one part water. Douse a cotton swab with the mixture, and run the swab over the affected parts of your tongue. This not only helps numb the pain, it also cleans the wound for faster healing.
Step 3
Dab a small amount of milk of magnesia, a creamy liquid often used for heartburn, on the canker sore. Do this three or four times a day. This creates a smooth barrier over the sore to help relieve pain and avoid exacerbating the sore with other foods.
Step 4
Sprinkle salt on your citrus fruit before you eat it, especially if you already have a mouth sore. While avoiding citrus fruit until your mouth sore has healed is the best practice, salt acts to neutralize the acidity of citrus fruits so you can indulge without the fear of opening new sores or exacerbating the sores you already have.
Step 5
Limit the amount of citrus fruit you consume after the sores have healed, to avoid more sores in the future. Eating one orange or one grapefruit shouldn't damage your mouth, but eating several at a time can slowly wear away at your tongue tissue, creating canker sores. Stop at one and enjoy other less acidic fruits.
Things You'll Need
- Hydrogen peroxide
- Cotton swab
- Milk of magnesia
- Salt
References
- "Citrus Fruit: Biology, Technology and Evaluation"; Milind S. Ladaniya; 2008
- PubMed Health: Canker Sore
- MayoClinic.com; Canker Sore; April 2011
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