Why is my talkative friend so quiet today?

Why is my foodie colleague indifferent to the delicious food?

Why is the aloof male god groaning in private?

Behind all this, is it the distortion of human nature or the collapse of morality?

Welcome to today's science popularization and decryption program - "Uninvited Guests in the Oral Cavity"

1. What is an oral ulcer?

The oral cavity is the starting point of the digestive tract. In addition to consciously ingesting controllable substances such as food and water, people generally do not allow other things to pass through the oral cavity, let alone reside there.

Oral ulcers are such an "uninvited guest" that resides in the oral mucosa. Oral ulcers are common on the inner side of the lips, the palate, and the cheek, appearing as round or oval painful ulcer points.

(Note: The oral ulcers analyzed in this article are mainly "recurrent aphthous ulcers", also known as aphthous ulcers. They are different from "one-time" traumatic oral ulcers and oral ulcers associated with diseases. The difference is whether they recur frequently.)

Uninvited, it is naturally a bad guest. The obvious pain constantly reminds people that this "guest" is not easy to deal with, and even slight bumps or contact with the wound will make the pain more intense. It makes one unable to speak beautifully or eat deliciously, it is truly painful.

What's even more painful is that oral ulcers are a "permanent" disease.

It is called "permanent" because of its incidence and recurrence. According to the "Diagnosis and Treatment Guidelines for Recurrent Aphthous Ulcers (Trial)" issued by China in 2012: 10%-25% of the population suffers from recurrent aphthous ulcers, and the most common age is 10-30 years old. It can occur in all four seasons and at any time of the day.

Therefore, it presents a frustrating situation: people who have never had oral ulcers basically won't get them. However, those who have had oral ulcers often have repeated attacks. The pain is indescribable and cannot be understood.

2. Causes of the disease

Causes of recurrent aphthous ulcers

Currently, the causes are still unclear, but many inducing factors have been identified.

First, genetic factors. If you often have oral ulcers, you might ask your parents. Their history of ulcers may be richer than yours.

Second, immune factors. When immunity decreases, pathogens take advantage of the weakness, and the symptoms appear in the oral cavity as oral ulcers.

Third, dietary factors. A picky diet can lead to a lack of trace elements such as iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamin B in the body, thus causing oral ulcers.

Fourth, psychological factors. When people are under great mental stress, they are prone to negative emotions such as irritability and anxiety, poor sleep quality, which reduces the body's immune function and thus triggers oral ulcers.

3. Treatment methods

Knowing the cause of the disease often allows for targeted treatment.

Liu Hong, chief physician of Peking University School of Stomatology, believes that the treatment of recurrent aphthous ulcers mainly focuses on local anti-inflammation, relieving oral pain, and promoting ulcer healing, while systemic treatment aims to prolong the remission period.

I believe everyone can see the helplessness behind this treatment method - that is, it can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.

The causes of recurrent aphthous ulcers have not yet been fully elucidated, and we can only eliminate many interfering factors to find several key branches on the main trunk leading to the truth.

And these branches are difficult to prune:

Genetic factors are difficult to solve with the current medical level;

Immune factors are attributed to physique, and improving physique is a long-term process;

As for dietary and psychological factors, for the high-incidence population, namely the 10-30 age group, whether it is the pressure of study or work, or the lifestyle of young people who do not pay attention to "health preservation", it is difficult to achieve effective and long-term changes.

You ask this group of people to improve their lifestyle - no staying up late playing games, chasing dramas, no overtime work, and a nutritious meal every day? Fried chicken and cola are not delicious? Zhu Yilong and Li Xian are not handsome? Overtime is not happy?

So the disease will always occur. The essence of punk health preservation is to maintain health while being reckless! This is a helpless reality, but fortunately, recurrent aphthous ulcers are self-limiting, that is - they usually heal on their own in about a week.

However, no one wants to keep it for a second longer, because it harms the important organs for human survival and social interaction - the oral cavity. It makes one unable to speak beautifully or eat deliciously, it is truly painful.

In summary, the best way to treat oral ulcers is still to "treat the symptoms, not the root cause." Since a fundamental solution has become a luxury, being able to shorten the duration of the disease and reduce pain has become an excellent treatment method.

Local topical medications have emerged, such as the well-known Yike paste, the oral ulcer patch with the cute pill image of Yikezi.

Its pill also thoughtfully adopts a double-layer structure, with the yellow side protecting the wound from contact, and the white side releasing the medicinal effect for rapid treatment. Gently apply the small pill to the ulcer, and the pain can be relieved in 5 minutes, with the medicinal effect lasting for 3 hours. It adheres firmly and does not affect eating and drinking, and basically two pills can heal oral ulcers.

It solves both the pain problem and the eating and drinking problem in the shortest time. It makes the biggest troubles caused by oral ulcers easily solved. Of course, fundamentally solving oral ulcers is the goal pursued by medicine. It is believed that with the passage of time and the development of technology, the last layer of fog will surely be lifted, and this is the charm of human medicine.