Cinnamon Sores

Cinnamon can irritate the mouth’s lining, causing a burning sensation. Cinnamon gum and candy may look harmless, but they can cause white spots and sores in your mouth.

Pat, Had Mouth Sores:
“It was just a normal checkup, then the dentist noticed the spots on the inside of my cheek.”

The spots in Pat’s mouth looked like pre-cancerous lesions, or an early sign of lupus — a disease where the body’s tissue gets inflamed. It turned out Pat was using too much cinnamon.

Pat:
“I was chewing a lot of cinnamon gum.”

In fact, he was chewing 18 pieces of gum a day. The oral pathologist, said the cinnamon caused the spots. “Some people will tell us, ‘Well I know as soon as I put cinnamon in my cheek or something like that it burns a little bit, but I didn’t think it was ever going to hurt me.'”

The researchers found cinnamon gum, hard candy and breath mints as well as jaw breakers and antacids can lead to mouth sores.

The active ingredient called cinnamic-aldehyde that is the allergen or irritant involved.

Pat:
“You know, anything in excess is bad. Certainly cinnamon gum is.”

After Pat stopped chewing cinnamon gum for a month, his mouth sores disappeared. The researchers also reported that people who are trying to quit smoking have the most mouth problems because they chew a lot of gum.