Zap cold sores in the bud | Health, medicine and fitness
Dr Doug Barr uses soft tissue laser surgery to remove an emerging cold sore from Family 1st Dental colleague Jessica Paulsen in his South Sioux City office. Paulsen and other clients who get free, painless surgery get in and out of the office in five minutes, Barr said.
Dr Doug Barr uses soft tissue laser surgery to remove an emerging cold sore from Family 1st Dental colleague Jessica Paulsen in the South Sioux City office.
By John Quinlan
Cold sores are small, fluid, painful blisters or sores that appear on the lips, mouth, or nose that are caused by a virus. They are ugly. They are painful. And they often hang around for days.
There are many remedies, medications, and creams for these Herpes Simplex infections. And there are steps you can take to avoid them, such as supplementing, changing your toothbrush, or exercising.
But there’s a new weapon that naps the problem in the bud … or more correctly, zaps it in the bud.
Today, you can zap those cold sores, canker sores or herpes viruses and foot and mouth ulcers with dental lasers.
The treatment takes a few minutes and is free at Family 1st Dental in Sioux City, South Sioux City and other 1st Dental offices for registered patients, says Dr Doug Barr of 1st Dental’s South Sioux City office. Patients call, come in and have their cold sores zapped. They go in and out in five minutes.
“Time doesn’t matter to us. Bang! Bang!” Barr said.
The key is to take action before you have a full blown cold sore.
“So if a patient feels like they have a cold sore – and the first symptoms are they feel a little bit sore and irritated and are going to start blistering a bit – they can come in,” he said. Barr said. “If they contact us or contact us with a dentist with a soft tissue diode laser, they can come in and now is the best time to treat it.”