Children are so arranged that they need to taste everything. Kids try to drag in their mouths everything that is bad. Older children often unknowingly lick their fingers, forget to wash their hands. That is why stomatitis occurs so often in childhood. Inflammation of the oral mucosa is a rather painful condition. But you can help a child with him not only with pharmaceutical preparations, but also with traditional medicine. We will talk about them in this article.
Symptoms and Signs
Stomatitis is a disease that is almost impossible not to notice, any mother is able to detect herself characteristic signs that the child has an inflamed oral cavity:
- Child's anxiety and bad mood.
- Decreased appetite, pain when eating.
- Changes in the oral mucosa: redness, rather severe swelling, the appearance of ulcers with a white, gray or yellowish coating.
- Increased salivation, salivation.
- Bleeding gums can sometimes be seen.
- Almost always, an unpleasant odor appears from the mouth.
Doctors still cannot explain the true causes of stomatitis. The most obvious prerequisite - violation of hygiene - raises no questions. It is clear that pathogens trapped in the oral cavity cause foci of inflammation. But experts tend to believe that not only microbes are to blame for this unpleasant ailment.
Sometimes stomatitis is provoked by certain immune processes. Presumably, such a reaction in the mouth occurs in cases when, for reasons incomprehensible to the end, the immune system cannot identify certain particles or molecules. According to the "logic" of immunity, since it is not recognized, it should be destroyed, and an army of lymphocytes "rushes" to the mysterious guests. This is what causes ulcers.
The most susceptible to the disease are children who eat poorly and unbalancedly, babies who have recently suffered diarrhea, repeated vomiting, intestinal infections, since they have some degree of dehydration.
If a child has taken medications that dry out the mouth, reduce the amount of saliva produced (for example, antihistamines), he is also at a rather high risk of stomatitis. In adolescents during puberty, hormones are unstable, and this is also a prerequisite for inflammation of the oral cavity.
Often, children with a genetic predisposition to this ailment are susceptible to stomatitis: if mom or dad often encounter this unpleasant condition, then there is a high probability that the child will inherit the qualitative composition of the oral microflora and will also suffer from stomatitis.
Poor-quality braces or incorrect placement of them can also cause inflammation of the oral mucosa.
Treatment for common stomatitis is not a daunting task., it is possible to cope with this in 7-12 days, including the means from the arsenal of traditional healers. Often, stomatitis goes away on its own without treatment at all. But in relation to children, there is no need to hope for this, because the lack of proper therapy can lead to complications and the spread of infection.
What is the danger?
As with most childhood ailments, the main danger lies in diagnostic errors. It would seem that a simple disease is a simple treatment. But in reality, everything is much more complicated. The fact is that stomatitis may not be an independent disease, but only a symptom of more dangerous conditions, such as diseases of the stomach and intestines (gastritis, duodenitis, colitis and a number of others). Stomatitis may indicate that helminthic invasions have firmly settled in the child's intestines. In addition, ulcerative inflammation of the oral mucosa can occur with HSV (herpes simplex virus), as one of the manifestations of herpes infection.
Stomatitis can be both allergic and traumatic. The most common among young children is catarrhal, it is caused by a violation of the hygiene requirements for the maintenance of the oral cavity.
Many parents believe that stomatitis is always contagious, so they immediately allocate separate dishes to the sick child so as not to infect other family members. It is not always so.
Only vesicular stomatitis, which has a viral origin, is dangerous to others. Other forms of the disease are not transmitted by household contact.
An error in diagnosing the origin of the disease can cause serious consequences - inflammation can go to the larynx, cause negative processes in the respiratory organs and even contribute to the development of a systemic infection.
When is it impossible to do with folk methods?
Stomatitis in children differs from a similar diagnosis in adults in the frequency of severe disease. Imperfect immune defense of a child copes worse with protective functions than an adult. Therefore, it is not uncommon for a child to observe multiple mouth ulcers, involving both the inside of the cheeks and the tongue. At the same time, the temperature rises, the baby's well-being significantly worsens, and a pronounced pain syndrome appears. Such stomatitis requires the prompt use of antifungal agents, antiseptics and pain relievers, sometimes doctors prescribe antiviral drugs. Doctors believe that it will be better if the treatment of a complex form is carried out with pharmacy medicines.
The opinion of the expert Dr. Komarovsky about pediatric stomatitis, and you can find out about situations when folk remedies alone cannot be done in the following video.
Effective folk remedies
Most of the folk recipes are well known to parents. So they themselves were treated many years ago, but these funds do not lose their relevance.
Salt rinse
This recipe is the most common and inexpensive. A teaspoon of salt and the same amount of baking soda are all it takes to prepare the solution. The ingredients should be dissolved in a glass of warm boiled water. You get a single dose. For one rinse, you must use at least 250 ml of liquid. The child should not swallow the saline solution, so you should not practice such procedures for children who, due to their age, do not yet understand how to rinse their mouth correctly. Soda-salt treatment of the oral cavity should be repeated every 2-3 hours.
Pharmacy chamomile
This herbal collection costs a mere penny, but in terms of effectiveness it can be put on a par with expensive pharmaceutical antiseptics. To prepare the gargle, you will need a teaspoon of dried herbal raw materials (sold in pharmacies) and 200 grams of boiled water. Pour chamomile with hot water, put the container in a water bath and hold it there for 15 minutes. Strain the resulting broth and cool at room temperature until warm. It is necessary to give the child rinse his mouth with chamomile broth 5-6 times a day, before spitting it out, the child must hold the liquid in his mouth for at least 30 seconds.
Aloe
This is a plant that is a real mother's helper for various childhood ailments. With stomatitis, aloe juice can be used to treat mouth ulcers. To do this, you need to cut off a juicy leaf, hold it in the refrigerator for half an hour, and then gently handle the damage to the mucous membrane with it. This method is not suitable if the child has multiple ulcerations. With a severe course of the disease, it is better to squeeze out the aloe juice with a piece of gauze, dilute it with boiled water and rinse your mouth with this composition every three hours.
Tea mushroom
Nowadays very few people have it in the house, but if you try to treat stomatitis with it, you will definitely later acquire this useful product. Water, in which there is a kombucha, rinse your mouth 5 times a day. The total one-time volume of liquid for the procedure is 150 ml. Stomatitis in a child after such rinses disappears completely on the second day. After the first three to four rinses, the pain syndrome disappears, the ulcers begin to heal.
Sage
This plant has a pronounced anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect. To prepare the rinses, you will need to pour two tablespoons of herbal raw materials with water, the temperature of which does not exceed 90 degrees. The liquid should be infused under the lid. You can brew sage in a thermos. The exposure time is about an hour. The resulting infusion should be rinsed out your mouth 4-5 times a day.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus leaves quickly and effectively relieve pain and discomfort during stomatitis. They should be crushed, brewed in a thermos and infused for 3-4 hours. The resulting fragrant liquid must be filtered and the child should be rinsed 3-5 times a day.
Potatoes
For the preparation of medical compresses, you will need one raw potato. The tuber should be thoroughly washed, peeled, cut into small thin slices, which are applied to the affected areas of the oral mucosa for 15-20 minutes. You can not cut the potatoes, but rub them on a coarse grater and lubricate the oral cavity with the resulting mass. Keep for 15 minutes and then rinse with clean boiled water. Potatoes have a strong healing property, which allows you to cope with the manifestations of stomatitis in just 3-4 days.
The danger of self-medication
Do not underestimate stomatitis and assume that the child is not in danger. If the baby's immunity is weakened, and the disease is pronounced, the infection can quickly spread to neighboring areas, and this is the nasopharynx and larynx. In addition, pathogens in food enter the alimentary tract. Therefore, if you really want to treat the child yourself, please. But remember about the "critical" terms of self-medication: if stomatitis has not gone away in 7 days, you should immediately consult a doctor.
What can’t be done?
- You can not cauterize ulcers in the mouth with alcohol-containing compounds, and also use iodine and brilliant green for this.
- You can not feed the child during treatment for stomatitis with too hot, spicy or cold food, as it can increase inflammation and definitely increase pain.
- During treatment, the child should not use "aggressive" toothpastes to clean his teeth, it will be better if he uses special children's pastes marked "for sensitive teeth and gums."
Another useful video from the "Children's Doctor" issue dedicated to pediatric stomatitis can be viewed in the following video.
Tips
In case of stomatitis in an infant, rinsing is impossible, therefore, medical solutions are prepared for babies according to the above recipes and the mouth is processed or with the help of cotton swabs and small cotton swabs.
