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My husband came to me on a Sunday night asking me if I had any help for a canker sore. He was desperate for a little relief from the pain. He doesn't get canker sores very often and usually there are some triggers for the development: certain foods, seasonal allergies, and stress all contribute to the eruption of a canker sore for him.
I set to researching and found that there are several oils that could help with canker sores such clove and eucalyptus. A blend of these and other essential oils to be the best help for a canker sore. We use Immune Strength from Rocky Mountain Oils which contains: Clove Bud, Cinnamon Bark, Lemon, Orange, Oregano, Mandarin, Thyme, Rosemary, Nutmeg, Ginger Root, and Eucalyptus citriodora.
How to Use Essential Oils on Canker Sores
1. Prepare a bottle of diluted Immune Strength essential oil blend to have on hand.
Immune Strength essential oil blend contains several “hot” oils that are not recommended to applied “neat” or without a carrier oil. Fractionated coconut oil would be a perfect choice as a carrier oil in this case because of it's anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. FCO stays liquid whereas regular coconut oil will solidify at cooler room temps. I recommend making a small bottle that is pre-diluted and ready to go for applications like this. This simple essential oil dilution guide will assist you with determining how many drops of the essential oil to put in for the size bottle you're using. For this particular short-term use, we personally use a higher dilution percentage like 3-5%. Be sure to label your bottle. A simple label maker works well.
2. Apply a drop or two of your diluted Immune Strength essential oil blend to your canker sore.
To apply, you can either put a drop of the oil on a clean finger or a cotton ball and then rub it gently over the canker sore to cover it. Again, there are “hot” oils in this blend so use with caution! Part of the effectiveness of these essential oils for a canker sore is the numbing effect, but you may find that it initially stings from the initial antiseptic and cleaning effect of the essential oils. Repeat application for each canker sore, if you have multiple.
3. Reapply the diluted Immune Strength essential oil blend 2-3 times a day until the canker sore is gone.
We have found that the using Immune Strength essential oil blend usually helps our bodies clear a canker sore within 24-48 hours. By the second day, we've usually forgotten that we have a canker sore because our bodies have already been hard a work repairing the spot. If a canker sore happens to linger, we continue to apply the diluted Immune Strength essential oil blend until the canker sore is gone or we've forgotten about it.
Our Results
When we first tried using essential oils on a canker sore, we were shocked with the results. Days after his initial request for help, Josh came to me asking which night he told me he had the canker sore because he had neglected to reapply the oil regularly… and now it was long gone and nearly forgotten.
When we counted back, we found that sometime within the first 48 hours, Josh's canker sore had disappeared! If you ever get canker sores, you know that they seem to take forever to go away and can be quite painful as well as annoying.
In addition to canker sores, we use Immune Strength a lot during the winter to help our bodies stay healthy and fight off the typical winter bugs.
Disclosure: I do need to tell you that I'm not a doctor and this is not intended to be medical advice. This is simply my family's experience with using essential oils and the results.
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