Canker sores go by the medical term aphthous ulcers. By any name, they are painful, so a way to speed healing is a boon.
Q. Several years ago when I was a teenager, I was nearly hospitalized because my entire mouth was covered in canker sores.
A few years later I got several canker sores on a cross-country trip. I couldn’t eat because of the pain.
I stopped and got a root beer. They were gone the next day.
Now if I get a canker sore, I drink root beer and it is gone within hours.
A. This is an unusual approach. Others have told us that a sip of buttermilk swished in the mouth and then swallowed can be helpful.
Some people treat canker sores with tea made from burdock, goldenseal or licorice root. Perhaps there is something in the sassafras root that flavors root beer that helps calm the sore.
