Sore Tongue, Cankers

I'm not sure how it started, but it was a week ago.  I started out with what looked like a canker sore on the side of my tongue, very painful.  It went away and then one showed up on the back of the roof of my mouth on the same side.  I had started to use Orajel on it to stop the pain.  A day or two later I noticed more red spots showing up on the roof of my mouth, although they never turned white like a typical canker.

Now the tip of my tongue is sore, no visible canker.  Underside of my tongue and bottom of my mouth under my tongue are sore.  No visible sore but it looks like the salivary glands are red.

Is it some viral thing or something else?  Kind of has me worried.  I've made an appointment with my regular doctor but wonder if I should be seeing a dentist instead.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

I think either dentist or primary care would be fine.  There are known cases of reoccuring canker sores which appear in various parts of the mouth.  The cause of canker sores isn't fully understood but it may be related to diet (spicy, salty foods), stress, viral, hygiene, etc.  I would recommend avoiding any spicy foods at the time, brush and floss well and try to contain any stress if possible.  Going to your doctor would be a good idea to verify its just canker sores

[Rustystl]

I have an appliance that I'm to wear for my TMJ.  I don't wear it as much as I used to and actually hadn't worn it for a couple of weeks.

This started right about (I'm not positive that it was the same day) that I started to wear the appliance at night again.  Could this be caused by that?  Could it not be as clean as it should have?  I think that I had only brushed it with toothpaste after it had been not used for a couple of weeks. I'm not really sure the best way to clean it actually.

I'm still waiting to get into my primary to see what he says.  It looks like most of the red blotches on the roof of my mouth are gone and I think I still have a canker sore on the tip of my tongue (It looks like the size of a taste bud and hurts like crazy). The floor of my mouth, under my tongue, is still a little sore.

Anyway, just wondering if this is something that could have thrown my mouth out of whack.  It just seems odd that it was a number of things all at one time.  I never did have a fever and my lymphnodes may have been slightly swollen (hard to tell), but there wasn't any pain with them.

Thanks for the help!

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Does the appliance coincide with the sore spots ( canker sores ) areas in your mouth?  Its possible that there's something sharp or rough on the device which is causing the problem.