So you're sitting there, trying to eat your breakfast burrito, but this thing inside your lip hurts every time you take a bite.
Then you go for a swig of orange juice, and it stings so much that your eyes start to water.
That's life with a canker sore technically called an Aphthous Ulcer.
Once you have one, you're pretty much stuck with it for the next week or so.
But there are some things you can do to try to prevent canker sores in the first place, and there are ways to make them hurt less and maybe even heal faster.
To be clear, we're not talking about cold sores here, the bumps you might get on your lips outside your mouth.
Those are caused by a viral infection.
Instead, the Aphthous Ulcer are basically little abrasions inside your mouth, often caused by something that irritates a spot like braces or dentures rubbing against your cheek or acidic or spicy foods.
But there are other factors involved, too.
Studies have shown that when people are especially stressed, they tend to get more canker sores, possibly because the hormones your body releases when you're stressed can trigger inflammation.
