Have you noticed white or yellow patches in your mouth when brushing your teeth? Have these patches been painful or bled? These are the symptoms of oral thrush, a fungal infection in the mouth.
How do you get oral thrush? How do you treat oral thrush? We’ve seen this infection in our patients before at Ohana Orthodontics. We can show you how to recognize the symptoms and treat and prevent oral thrush.
What Is Oral Thrush?
What is oral thrush? It’s a fungal infection caused by candida albicans fungus, also known as oral candidiasis. The fungus naturally lives in your mouth, but it can grow too much due to certain conditions or medications. The fungus then forms patches in your mouth.
What Are the Symptoms of Oral Thrush?
Oral thrush in adults and oral thrush in children have similar symptoms. Oral thrush symptoms include:
- White patches on the tongue, chees, gums, palate, or tonsils
- Soreness in the mouth
- Bleeding of the patches
- Dry mouth
- Trouble swallowing
- Loss of taste
- For infants, fussiness during feeding
Why Did I Get Oral Thrush?
The candida fungus is usually present in your mouth and throat. Your immune system keeps it to low enough levels that it doesn’t cause problems. When something compromises your immune response, the fungus grows out of control.
What can cause oral candidiasis? It’s caused by a weakened immune system as a result of:
- Diabetes
- Immunocompromising diseases such as HIV/AIDS
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Severe stress
- Cancer treatment
- Certain medications, such as antibiotics and corticosteroids
- Tobacco use
- Dry mouth
- A feeling of cotton in the mouth
- Cracked, dry areas at the corners of the mouth
Your saliva helps keep the candida fungus in check. When you have dry mouth, the lack of saliva can cause the fungus to grow out of control. If certain medications give you dry mouth, talk with your doctor about changing the medication or dosage.
Can Invisalign or Braces Cause Oral Thrush?
Invisalign can trap the fungus against your teeth and gums, causing it to grow. This can also happen for those who wear dentures.
It’s important to rinse your clear aligners each time you remove them from your mouth and before you replace them in your mouth. You also need to clean your clear aligners regularly.
You have less chance of braces causing oral thrush, but it can happen. Braces can also irritate the white patches. Brush and floss regularly to keep your braces and clear aligners from causing oral candidiasis.
Braces consist of wires, brackets, and other components that can trap food particles and make cleaning teeth more challenging. When food particles and plaque accumulate around braces, it provides an ideal breeding ground for candida fungus. As a result, the risk of oral thrush increases for those with braces, particularly if they neglect oral hygiene.
Is Oral Thrush Contagious?
You can’t pass the fungus through the air like a virus, but you can pass it through saliva. Avoid the saliva of someone who has oral thrush, especially if you have a compromised immune system. If you do come in contact, brush your teeth right away or rinse with warm salt water.
How Do You Treat Oral Thrush?
Your doctor will prescribe anti-fungal medication to get rid of your oral candidiasis. This may come as mouthwash or lozenges. If those don’t work, your doctor may prescribe anti-fungals in pill form.
Certain medical conditions can make you prone to develop oral thrush.
You can also help treat your oral thrush at home. Rinse your mouth several times a day with warm salt water to reduce the fungus. You can also use apple cider vinegar or lemon juice.
Brush your teeth thoroughly after every meal. Eat yogurt or cheese, which has enzymes that can restore balance to the amount of fungus in your mouth.
How Do I Prevent Oral Thrush?
There are several ways to prevent oral thrush. Eat healthy to keep your immune system strong. Vitamins such as B and C, as well as other supplements, can help strengthen your immune system. Eat yogurt or cheese to maintain the fungal balance in your mouth.
Brush and floss your teeth regularly, cleaning all of your mouth, including the roof of your mouth and your tongue. If you have finished being treated with antifungal medication, change out your toothbrush so you don’t put the fungus back into your mouth.
Talk to your doctor about any medications that cause dry mouth. Your doctor may change your medication or recommend a mouth rinse that keeps your mouth moist and reduces the chance of the fungus growing.
Quit using tobacco products if you can. Your doctor may be able to help with that, too.
Clean clear aligners or dentures by soaking them with cleaning tablets at least once a day. Rinse them each time you remove or replace them in your mouth.
Oral Thrush Treatment in Canby, OR
Oral thrush isn’t as serious as other mouth ailments, such as gum disease. However, it can make eating and drinking unpleasant and, in some cases, can be painful. The good news is that oral thrush is relatively easy to treat and prevent.
At Ohana Orthodontics, we recognize the symptoms of oral thrush. We examine you with each visit. If we see signs of oral thrush, we will start treatment for you right away and show you how you can prevent oral thrush in the future.
