Mouth Ulcers

These are small, very painful ulcers, which tend to heal spontaneously after some days. The causes vary widely, though they are not easy to ascertain: Viral infections, alimentary allergies, lack of B vitamins or iron, among other reasons, may cause mouth ulcers. Mouth rinses with astringent (which dry mucous membrane), antiseptic, and cicatrizant plants can be useful

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Lip Sores

Cold sores are usually caused by dryness or cold, and are painful when opening or moving the mouth. When they appear on lip sides they are related to the lack of certain minerals, especially of iron. Local treatment with compresses or poultices of emollient (smoothing) and cicatrizant plants can accelerate the healing of this disease

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Bad Taste in Mouth

It may or may not be related to bad breath (halitosis). It is usually related to the bad functioning of the gall bladder or intestinal fermentations. Cholagogue and digestive plants are recommended, especially the four mentioned here.

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Teething

When teeth grow in milk fed children, the gums undergo a mild inflammatory process whose discomforts may be eliminated with these plants.

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Toothache

Medicinal herbs can produce a local analgesic effect when applied in mouth rinses. Thus, the undesirable side effects of internally used analgesics (injected, taken orally, etc) are avoided. The real treatment of tooth inflammation that causes toothache must never be put off.

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Gumboil

Beside an antibiotic treatment, fig or other plant poultices may be applied in order to accelerate the ripening of the abscess or boil.

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Pyorrhea, Gingivitis and Parodontosis

From an etymological standpoint, pyorrhea means "pus flow", though it is only used to name the discharge of pus from the teeth, and the teeth loosen and fall out.

Gingivitis is the inflammation of the gums, usually caused by pyorrhea.

Parodontosis is a wider term that includes all conditions able to alter the adherence of teeth to the jaw bone, the most frequent of which is pyorrhea.

These conditions demand periodontal specialised treatment. Mouth rinses with these plants serve as hygienic complement of such treatment.