Sauerkraut Juice or Thalidomide for Canker Sores

Q. I am desperate for a remedy for canker sores. My mouth is just full of them and they are so painful I am having trouble eating. This has been going on for months.

My doctor prescribed Aphthasol but it didn’t help. My dentist has offered antibiotics and strong steroids but nothing has worked. Please help.

A. Physicians don’t know what causes canker sores (aphthous ulcers) but a deficiency of folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron may contribute to this condition. Prescription treatments are not always effective, as you have discovered.

Sauerkraut Juice

We heard from D.W. in Garland, Texas, whose mother was a dental assistant in the 1930s. In those days the dentist recommended swishing the mouth with sauerkraut juice several times during the day, swallowing about a tablespoon. D.W. says that the sores should start improving within a day or so.

We did some additional searching and discovered that this remedy may have a longer history in Europe. We recommended this approach to one doctor who thought it very dubious. His own physician had been unable to come with a solution, so he was desperate enough that he tried it. To his amazement it worked.

He was so impressed that he talked his son, a chemist, into doing some research to try to find out how it works. There are a surprising number of active compounds in sauerkraut juice that may be responsible for its healing properties.

A recent review in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dentistry (April 1, 2014) notes that as many as one-fourth of adults suffer from recurrent canker sores. The investigators caution against prescription drugs unless all underlying causes, especially vitamin deficiencies, have been ruled out and simple solutions have not proven effective.

These experts suggest topical treatments first (diclofenac, doxycycline, corticosteroids, hyaluronic acid gel or local anesthetics). If they fail, the next step is oral medicine. They recommend oral corticosteroids such as prednisone, but only after everything else has failed.

Thalidomide

A more drastic approach involves the drug thalidomide (Thalomid). That’s right, the notorious drug that caused incredible suffering during the 1950s. Thalidomide produced severe birth defects when women took this sedative/sleeping pill during their pregnancies.

More recently it has been found to be an immune system modulator and is a valuable therapy for a hard-to-treat cancer called multiple myeloma. Researchers have demonstrated that this medication dramatically improves severe canker sores. In one study, thalidomide helped cure aphthous ulcers in 85 percent of patients (Medicine, May, 2010). Sadly, they also experienced side effects including drowsiness, constipation, headache, nausea, stomach pain and neuropathy. This really is a last resort and of course no woman should take thalidomide if she could become pregnant since it causes terrible birth defects.

Other Remedies for Canker Sores

If you would like to read about other home remedies for canker sores including aloe vera gel, baking soda, banana, buttermilk, green beans, kiwi fruit, Mylanta, L-lysine and Prelief, we suggest our book The People’s Pharmacy Quick and Handy Home Remedies (from National Geographic). It is 264 pages and has hundreds of intriguing simple remedies for common ailments. Perhaps now would be a good time to start your holiday shopping with a great gift of good health for 2015.