Maguok-dong Dental Clinic: Mouth ulcers that appear once a month—Is it okay to leave them alone?

Hello, this is Magok-dong Dental Clinic.

I’m Lee Soo-kyung, a specialist in integrated dentistry.

During a meal, the moment spicy seasoning touches it by accident, that one spot feels especially stinging and sore.

Even when brushing your teeth, if the toothbrush barely brushes against it, you flinch and frown at the small wound.

After a few days, it disappears as if nothing happened, but not long after, it tends to show up again in a similar spot.

Many people dismiss it as simply fatigue or lack of sleep,

but if the same symptoms keep coming back, there may be a sign beyond ordinary tiredness.

Today, I’d like to talk about recurrent aphthous stomatitis, commonly described as “a sore spot inside the mouth.”

Magok-dong Dental Clinic Oral Health Information

1. Not all wounds inside the mouth are the same.

Ulcers that form on the oral mucosa look and behave differently depending on the cause.

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis usually appears as small round or oval ulcers

that mainly occur on soft mucosa such as the inside of the lips, the inside of the cheeks, and the sides of the tongue.

The center is white or pale yellow, and the edge is surrounded by redness, which is a characteristic feature.

Herpetic stomatitis, which may seem similar at first glance, appears as clusters of small blisters,

and tends to occur more often on the edges of the lips or at the corners of the mouth.

Traumatic ulcers, commonly called mouth sores, usually heal relatively quickly once the irritant is gone.

On the other hand, recurrent aphthous lesions need to be distinguished because

they appear repeatedly in the same place even without any clear trauma.

Magok-dong Dental Clinic Oral Health Information

2. There are several overlapping signals behind repeated episodes.

The reason we recommend checking this in people whose symptoms come back often is

that the cause is not simple or limited to just one factor.

The most common background factor is reduced immunity.

Accumulated stress, lack of sleep, and changes in physical condition during seasonal transitions

reduce the mucosa’s ability to recover, creating an environment where even small irritations can easily lead to ulcers.

Another thing to look at is nutritional status.

If nutrients such as iron, vitamin B12, folate, and zinc are lacking, the mucosa becomes weaker,

and it may become sore even from irritations that would not normally be a problem.

If you have a habit of eating a limited variety of foods or if mouth ulcers increase during periods when you eat less, this is something worth checking at least once.

Another easily overlooked factor is chronic irritation inside the mouth.

A sharply worn tooth edge, ill-fitting dental prosthetics, or the habit of biting the inside of the cheek can repeatedly irritate the same area and trigger ulcers. There are also rare cases in which they appear as an early sign of a systemic disease such as Behçet’s disease, so there are situations where it is difficult to view them as simple mouth ulcers.

Magok-dong Dental Clinic Oral Health Information

3. There are signs that should be distinguished from simple mouth ulcers.

Most aphthous ulcers heal naturally within 1 to 2 weeks.

However, if the following patterns appear, it is worth considering the possibility that it may be something beyond a simple mouth ulcer.

If the wound does not heal even after 2 weeks, or if it grows large enough to exceed 1 cm in diameter.

If it occurs repeatedly in the same place and the edges gradually feel firm.

If systemic symptoms such as fever, joint pain, or eye inflammation occur together with the oral ulcer.

These signs may be another message our body is sending,

so rather than simply observing it over time, it is safer to have it examined carefully.

Small wounds inside the mouth are a common symptom that everyone experiences at least once,

but if they keep returning to the same spot, it may mean that the cause is somewhere in daily life.

Getting enough sleep and eating a balanced diet, limiting how often you eat spicy foods and drink acidic beverages, and brushing gently with a soft toothbrush are

the most basic ways to protect mucosal health.

Stress management is also by no means a minor matter.

Even so, if it keeps recurring in the same place or healing feels slow,

rather than waiting and hoping time will solve it, I recommend taking some time to calmly look at the condition inside your mouth.

This was Lee Soo-kyung from Magok-dong Dental Clinic. Thank you.