A blood blister in mouth is formed below the outermost layer of the skin because of minute tearing of blood vessels. It is one form of Angina bullosahemorrhagica (ABH), which is often misunderstood with other serious issues such as mucous membrane pemphigoid, epidermolysisbullosa, linear IgA, dermatitis herpetiformis). Blood blisters are painful and interfere with food chewing, so the patient feels too hard to take food properly.
There is no definitive place of occurrence of blood blister as it can be occurred anywhere inside the mouth. However, mostly it occurs inside the tongue and teeth gums. Blisters on the surface of gums can be extremely painful, especially brushing teeth.
Causes of blood blisters
Angina BullosaHaemorrhagica
Angina BullosaHaemorrhagica (ABH) happens inside the oral cavity, in the cheeks and on the underside of the tongue. Elder people are mostly vulnerable to this ailment when they develop small blood-filled blisters inside their inner cheeks or below their tongue. If the treatment is not done at the right time, it will enlarge and cause extremely painful sensation. ABH generally opens up after their formation, causing an open wound and create difficulty in eating food.
Ulcers
Ulcers are caused inside the mouth due invasion of microorganisms. Ulcers can also be caused due to side-effects of certain medications. Ulcers can be categorized into two parts – cold sores and canker sores. Mouth blisters occur due to canker sores when small, oval shaped white spots are evident inside the surface of mouth.
Allergy to food
Food allergy can also cause mouth blisters in the oral cavity, especially citrus foods. Your doctor will adjust your diet and treat you with some medications to remove those blisters.
Low Platelet Count
Platelets are essential for blood clotting and other functionality of blood. If the platelet count drastically comes down, particularly in case of some ailments such as dengue, blood blisters may form inside the oral cavity. This condition is also known as thrombocytopenic purpura when the blood platelets drop significantly.
Vitamin Deficiency
Acute vitamin deficiency can also cause blood blisters in mouth. Vitamin B12 and Vitamin C deficiencies are the primary reasons of mouth ulcers that can aggravate to mouth blisters.
Eating hot food items
Sometimes, eating hot food accidentally or hard food can also cause damage to oral cavity, which leads to blisters.
Other causes
Oral herpes caused by herpes simplex virus type, too much alcohol consumption and allergic reaction a particular type of medicine can exacerbate the condition.
Blood Blister in the cheek – causes
Mostly poor eating habits contribute to the condition. For instance, eating piping hot items can cause blood blister in the cheek. At the same time, not chewing the food properly or being too caught up watching TV or chatting with people while eating hot food items can cause blood blisters in the cheek.
Treatment of blood blister in mouth
Mostly mouth blisters are recovered over a period of time. Blood blisters because of burns and bites go away within a week. Nevertheless, if the blood blisters are painful and sustain more than a week, it requires medical attention.
Painkillers
Sometimes it is unbearable for patients to swallow food because of pain. In that case painkillers give quick relief and give some comfort. Before taking painkillers, it is important to consult your doctor.
Cold Compress
The use of cold therapy by application of ice pack will help to reduce the pain. It will numb the area and the patient can swallow food easily. It is not a permanent solution to reduce the blisters though.
Avoid Salty Food
Salty and spicy foods are detrimental to blood blisters in mouth. It will increase the pain and slow down the healing process. Also avoid all types of citrus foods like oranges, lemon, grapefruit, tomatoes etc. due to their acidic content.
Medications
Palliative treatments include benzydamine hydrochloride and chlorhexidinegluconate 0.12%-0.20% mouthwashes are good to avoid any further infection and quicken the healing process.
Should I pop a blood blister?
It is a misconception that popping blood blisters can eliminate them completely. On the contrary it will trigger bacterial infection and increase the healing time.