Dear Dr. Ellie.
My mother is 80 years old and is in horrible pain due to thrush. Her nurse says it was the antibiotic she was on recently that caused the thrush. She was in the hospital for a few days, and now she has this wicked pain in her mouth and throat. I was wondering if it contagious, and what I can do to help her.
Thanks for your help.
J M.xNebraska
Dear J,
Thrush is common in low-resistance patients who are on antibiotics as well as in chemotherapy patients.
Xylitol mouth spray or just as granular form ( swish it around the mouth) or xylitol based toothpaste could be helpful. Xylitol is anti-bacterial and anti-fungal and thrush is a fungal infection. See what you mom can best tolerate the spray, toothpaste, or granular Xylitol. Any xylitol will help and don’t forget Zellies! They can be used alone or with the other Xylitol products safely.
A thrush infection can also seen some times at the corners of the mouth in older patients with dentures.
A little Xylitol should show fast results in healing the infection and that will help the pain your mother is feeling.
Good luck and please let me know how it goes,
Dr. Ellie Phillips
Categories: Xylitol