Many people get to ask themselves or even their friends what is a canker sore. In many cases a person may confuse canker sores with cold sores. The differences are major and the ways to treating both quite different. A canker sore is a shallow ulcer that infects the inside of the mouth of a person. These sores never appear on the outside of the mouth. The other name for the canker sores is aphtous stomatitis. Even though these sores are very common today in many people, there is no exact known cause of the same.

The canker sores are more common in people who are between age 10 and 20 and in the simple category of the same. These sores can be categorized into two; the simple sores which affect most of the people and the complex sores which are much more severe than the former. The simple sores may affect a person between two to five times in one years and each of the episodes will last for between one and two weeks.

In many instances there is nothing that a person will be required to do to treat the sores. On the other hand the complex sores have more severe symptoms and a doctor should be sought for help. They usually affect people who have ever had the simple sores.

In order to know what is a canker sore, a person will need to know the symptoms with which they come with. The most obvious characteristics that come with these sores are the burning sensation when the sores are appearing. The other thing that will be noticed is a small red lesion in the mouth or on the point where the sore will be. Normally the sores are painful and the will be white or grey in color but with a red lining on their outer parts.

There are several known causes of canker sores. A person will definitely need to know that in order to establish what is a canker sore; they will need to understand the symptoms and the other attributes surrounding the same. Some of the known causes of the sore include having a deficiency of iron, zinc, folic acid and vitamin B-12. The other known cause for these sores include having a gastrointestinal infection, menstrual period, low immune system, food allergies and so on. more than the above said reason for the causes of the canker sores, a person should note that trauma to the mouth wither from eating some foods such as lemon or oranges, a shooting tooth, dentures and so on can cause them.