Saturday, October 17, 2009

Consumer Reports: Canker Sore Review Edition

For as long as I can remember, I've been plagued--PLAGUED--with horrible canker sores. Anytime I bite or cut the inside of my lip, no matter how small it is initially, it develops into a 3/4 cm crater almost without fail. When I was younger there wasn't a lot you could do about it aside from some applying some dishearteningly impermanent topical medication. Thankfully, it seems that lately, the market for canker sore products has exploded, and there are some surprisingly effective remedies available. Naturally, over the course of my life, out of sheer desperation I have bought and tried every single one of them. But which one is the best?

Canker Cover (***) - This is just one example of a pretty extensive line of similar products--they're basically discs (like very thin aspirin tablets) that stick to the sore. They do stick VERY well; in fact, once it's on, you can't get it off. And it lasts a pretty long time, provided you don't pick at it. But on the other hand, the disc is HUGE. You're not going to get away with this around the front of your mouth if you need to talk to someone else in the course of your day. And it just feels disgusting in your mouth, sort of like really soft wax, and I'm afraid about eating with it on. It's inelegant, but it eliminates the pain, so if you're just going to sit on the couch all day, it's not so bad.


Colgate Orabase Soothe-N-Seal (**) - Open up the box and it's basically a vial of superglue and a few Q-Tips. You squeeze the superglue onto the tip and dab it onto the sore. It does seal quickly, but it hurts like a bitch, is stiff when it dries, and doesn't last quite as long as the company claims. It's definitely the worst choice for very large sores; the Q-Tip they give you has such a small tip, and if you have to reapply it several times to cover the entire sore, the whole thing just doesn't seem to stay together that well. I disliked this one so much I never even finished the package.

Zilactin-B (****) - Now we're talking! You squeeze the brown liquid onto the sore, and after 30 seconds of the worst blinding pain of your life, the medication takes over and numbs the sore pretty well. Lasts long too--but it tastes and smells awful and is conspicuously brown. One time it rubbed off and stuck on my teeth. Not graceful. But it works great.


Canker-X (****) - Unlike the Zilactin, this one tastes good, is clear, and doesn't hurt as much, but doesn't last near as long. I prefer this one to the Zilactin, but only when I know I'll have a chance to reapply it soon.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Genial post and this enter helped me alot in my college assignement. Say thank you you seeking your information.

Anonymous said...

Making money on the internet is easy in the hush-hush world of [URL=http://www.www.blackhatmoneymaker.com]blackhat techniques[/URL], Don’t feel silly if you don't know what blackhat is. Blackhat marketing uses alternative or not-so-known methods to produce an income online.

cankerboy said...

For some reason I thought Zilactin was clear. I haven't used it much. I prefer Orabase. I used the Canker Covers one time and thought they were ridiculous! I can only use them at night and I'm not sure how much they actually help.

I've gotten canker sores my whole life, too. I empathize.

Nice blog!

Eugene said...

Thanks! To be honest, I am STILL on the same tube of Zilactin I bought for this post, so they may have improved it in the last two years (can't believe it's been that long...), ditto Orabase.

Anonymous said...

I think all of the canker sore medicines hurt like crap, and I still haven't found a medicine that lasts long and doesn't hurt. Kanka isn't horrible, it's probably the one I use most.

game writer guy said...

Damn, great page! Wish I'd looked for this yesterday. I can deal with short term pain - I just want this to go away.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone tried just keeping plain uncoated aspirin against the canker sore for 10 minutes or so? Sounds similar to "canker cover" but maybe a bit more extreme. Have to watch out for over-doing it and burning yourself, but it killed my canker dead.

joy nelson said...

God bless Dr okosun for his marvelous work in my life,my name is joy 
nelson I was diagnosed of HERPES since 2015 and I was taking my 
medications, I wasn't satisfied i needed to get the HERPES out of my 
system, I searched about some possible cure for HERPES i saw a comment 
about Dr okosun how he cured HERPES with his herbal medicine, I contacted 
him and he guided me. I asked for solutions, he started the remedy for my 
health, he sent me the medicine through UPS SPEED POST. I took the medicine 
as prescribed by him and 14 days later i was cured from HERPES, i went to different hospitals for confirmation to be actually sure if my sickness was gone and to my surprise all my results were negative, Dr.okosun
truly you are great, do you need his help also? Why don't you contact him 
through drokosun5544@gmail.com or whatsapp him with +2348124363791 and you can also contact me to know more about him on my email joynelson443@gmail.com  DOCTOR OKOSUN CAN AS WELL CURE THE FOLLOWING DISEASE:- 1. HIV/AIDS 2. HERPES 3. CANCER 
4. ALS 5. Hepatitis B 6. Diabetes 7. Athrux, 8. trypophobia 9.hpv 10 PREGNANCY INFECTIONS.

Daevyn1 said...

@clara @joynelson
Looks like you both love to capitalize HERPES. Why? We're not dumb 2 yr olds reading your posts. This Dr sounds like some snake oil peddler trying to sell his wares and relying on the placebo effect to reinforce that he really is a giant scam...go tell the gosple of this Dr somewhere where people are allowed to make their own decisions about whether a Dr is credible or not. So, the rest of us dont have to bear your spam messages about how great he is! If he is that great, he wouldnt need people giving him good word of mouth. If he truly is a great doctor, he wouldn't need anyone being his cheerleader. His practice would be able to stand up without the opinion posts spouting how great he is. I want to see some scientific PROOF (I can type in all caps too!) On what herbs could possibly get HERPES out of your system. Do you even KNOW how HERPES works in the body? If you got cure under this guys care, well, good for you! I'm glad. But stop speading your opinion as fact! Let others make their own decisions based on fact, not on someone blathering on about how great a Dr he is.

Raymond said...

I'm giving a testimony about Dr Nogadu the great Herbalist, he has the cure to all manner of diseases, he cured my herpes simplex virus, though I went through different website I saw different testimonies about different spell casters and herbalist, I was like: 'Many people's have the herpes simplex virus cure why are people still suffering from it?' I though of it, then I contact Dr Nogadu via email, I didn't believe him that much, I just wanted to give him a try, he replied my mail and Needed some Information about me, then I sent them to him, he prepared it (CURE) and sent it to me through Air freight Online Courier Service for delivery, he gave my details to the Courier Office, they told me that 2-5 days I will receive the parcel and i took the medicine as prescribed by him and I went for check up 2 week after finishing the medicine, I was tested herpes simplex virus negative, if you are herpes simplex virus patient do me a favour by  contacting him and I assure anyone who is suffering from it, your problem will never remain the same again you will be cured also Dr Nogadu help my brother wife to cure her cervical cancer she was suffering from the past 5 years, After he {cure} my herpes simplex virus, then my brother  heard about it, he went home to tell his wife  about Dr Nogadu then his wife  email him and explain her problem to him, he also prepare herbal medicine and he use Air freight courier service to sent her the herbal medicine and he instruct her on how she  will be using it for 14 days, That on the 15 days of it, she should go and check her self in the hospital and she did as she was instructed by Dr Nogadu, to GOD be the glory she was cure of her cervical cancer which she was suffering from for the past 5 years thanks to these great man we will ever remain grateful to you sir for the good work you did in our family. When you contact him, make sure you tell him that I refer you.. contact him via: drnogaduherbalist@gmail.com or WhatsApp him on +2347010627760.

ShareThis