Could that Canker Sore Mean Celiac Disease?

I have been gluten-free for 10 years, and I still get canker sores just as bad.

I've been searching for a solution for my mouth ulcers for over 40 years. Recently, my daughter was diagnosed with a sensitivity to gluten, so I stopped eating it out of solidarity. Voila, the ulcers are gone for several months now: something I don't remember in my entire adult life. Who'd have thought?

I stopped eating gluten for a period of 8 months and had no canker sores. After I began eating gluten again I didn't notice their appearance immediately, rather it has taken a little while, but they are back in full swing. I agree that gluten suppresses the immune system in some people and causes a myriad of other problems. Whether or not gluten is the direct or indirect cause of no canker sores I cannot say but it is definitely worth a try!

Thank you Dr. Frank. I am a dental asst who has suffered from these sores for almost ten years. I am in my late 30's. I think I have celiac disease. The dentist I used to work for laughed when I would have really bad sores. Like you said...in clumps. I wanted to die. He never had an answer. He would say I was just a freak. He thought it was all in my head. I have been taking a Zinc supplement for over a year now and it helps. They are no where near as bad as they used to be. Some of them used to take weeks to heal. Sometimes even months! Now they last about a week on the Zinc. I will give a gluten free diet a try. Thanks again for posting. You changed my life tonight.

Oh girl, we're in the same situation. My doctor diagnosed that I have celiac disease and I'm two days on the gluten-free diet.

I'm very thankful that I now know what causes my canker sores not to heal, instead just staying in my mouth every month and when the one heals comes the other... I don't like when my sores will be at my tongue its very painful and I can barely talk. But two days ago, my test was positive of celiac disease. I was so happy that now I know what triggers my canker sores, and on Tuesday i will go to my gastroenterologist doctor to have an endoscopy test. I have been to the hospital twice because I can't eat at all, my mouth and my throat was full of canker sores. I like to die in that time... but thank God there's always a way to find the cause of the problem. I'm still adjusting to what I eat and looking for gluten-free products in the shop. It's not so easy, but for my own good I will stick to my diet.

As a dentist (retired after 30+ years) and a sufferer of cancer sores for many years, I tried many remedies to no avail. I had numerous patients that had outbreaks much worse than mine.

Most had to "suck it up" and bear the pain. I researched out cures but never found anything in the literature (both medical and dental- I had full access to both the AMA and ADA web sites). I had been told they were from "stress". I was a long distance runner and noticed that after long workouts and hard training that they were more frequent. As I remember what foods that I was consuming after these workouts, I now realize that it was the huge quantities of gluten that caused the outbreaks.

My epithany came in July'05 when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease (age 62) and started my new gluten free diet. To date, I have not had a full blown outbreak, only small localized ulcers that heal within 1-2 days. (probably from contamination)

In the past, if I had bitten my lip, the ensuing ulcers would last at least 1 week, but now, they're gone by the next day.

Since I have retired, I no longer have access to these dental/medical sites and wonder if any articles have been written about the gluten intolerance/Celiac link to canker sores?? My dentist had no idea about the relationship after asking him at a recent visit.

Anyone that gets these sores in clumps, can be in so much pain that it is debilitating - unable to eat or drink.

I too suffered from age 11 - 30 with cankers all over mouth and throat. unable to eat or swallow. I had NO cankers for 1 or 2 days per month. AGONY! Loss time at school and missed dentist apt due to pain. If I ate something that gave me cankers, I wouldn't eat that food again. Cankers are totally food related. I went gluten free ( tested neg for celiac per biopsy and blood test) I still had no cankers UNTIL I started eating snickerdoodle cookies from Enjoy Life. Gluten free, non gmo..etc.... those darn cookies give me cankers!