Cold sores and canker sores may seem like minor oral health problems, but for sufferers, they can be very aggravating. Cold sores are unsightly, and occasionally painful, lesions on the lips, while canker sores are uncomfortable blisters inside the mouth. There is nothing you can do to prevent either from occurring, but there are steps you can take to lessen the impact. Your Lake Orion dentist, Dr. Brad Greenfield, discusses the causes of cold and canker sores and what you can do if one should pop up.

Cold Sores

Cold sores are the result of the easily transmitted herpes simplex-1 virus. Unlike the herpes simplex-2 virus, simplex-1 is not a sexually transmitted disease, and indeed, most people who catch the virus usually acquire it in early childhood. Once contracted, the virus will always be in the body. For many people with the virus, it will occasionally cause small blisters to break out on the lips or inside the mouth. Usually, the blisters will eventually combine into one large blister that will persist for up to a week and a half. While the blisters are generally not painful, they are often noticeable. After the outbreak runs its course, the cold sore disappears, rarely leaving any scarring behind. What exactly causes an outbreak is unknown, but some of the suspected triggers include stress and fever.

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