How Does Mouth Burn Occur?

Introduction

Mouth burn can occur from a variety of situations, but in most cases it happens when you touch foods that are too hot to the inside of your mouth before they cool down, or from eating foods that are spicy enough to affect the taste buds and membranes of the mouth.

Heat

Mouth burn caused by the temperature of your food is most common when you hastily insert food into your mouth before letting it cool down to a proper temperature. When you do this, the hot food burns the tissue on your tongue, inside of your cheek, or roof of your mouth, damaging it. If the heat is great enough, it may also cause swelling, and even blisters or other sores in the burnt area of the tissue.

Heat Remedy

If you burn your mouth through something you have eaten, the best thing to do is suck on an ice cube. The cold temperature of the cube will naturally decrease the swelling of the tissue damage, and will also work as a mild numbing agent for the pain. If the pain is severe enough, you may want to also use a topical mouth agent with benzocaine. This will numb the area completely from pain for up to a few hours. You may also want to avoid sharp foods such as chips or cereal for at least a few days after the burn.

Spice

Mouth burn can also occur from eating foods with high levels of spice. This is especially true with foods containing hot peppers. Hot peppers naturally carry a substance called capsaicin which irritates the sensitive tissues of the body such as your mouth. It is also the reason why inhaling the air after chopping hot peppers makes you choke from throat tissue irritation, and also why your eyes water and burn if they come into contact with the spicy flesh of the pepper. The amount of capsaicin in the pepper directly relates to its heat. Too much capsaicin can actually cause pain from the heat, and may even damage the tissue of the mouth. However, most people can build up a tolerance to capsaicin over time.

Spice Remedy

When your mouth starts to burn, your first reaction is usually to drink something. However, liquid actually spreads the capsaicin throughout the rest of your mouth, making the burn even worse. It is better to immediately ingest foods that have an absorptive effect on the capsaicin, such as bread or rice, to help relieve the burning. Some liquids such as milk may also help by partially neutralizing the effects of capsaicin.

Resources

• The Effects of Spicy Food