ORAHEALTH - 13 Nov 2006

Bellevue, Wash. – (November 13) For more than 35 years, nothing has come between Grammy Award-winning woodwind artist Nancy Rumbel and enchanting audiences with her serene oboe melodies but she sometimes has had to endure the relentless pain of the common canker sore while performing.

Canker sores are painful recurring ulcers inside the mouth that afflict 60 million Americans. They are not viral or contagious. The direct cause of canker sores is unknown, but studies have shown that stress, family history, and cuts in the mouth (like those caused by braces or accidental bites) can lead to the formation of these pesky sores. Diet may be a factor for some people as well, though specific triggering foods have not been identified.

“A canker sore really gets in the way of comfortably playing my instruments,” says Rumbel. “As you can imagine, the pressure frequently applied to the sore when I play my oboe results in a nasty pain and delays its healing —sometimes for over a week. I hate the pain and especially the length of the healing process. The stress of performing, recording or traveling seems to exacerbate a canker sore once it gets started.”

Traditional canker sore treatments include gels and mouthwashes designed to numb the pain or cover the ulcer in a protective coating to prevent irritation. For many people, this is simply inadequate: a numb mouth and days (or even weeks) of excruciating pain can make it tough to enjoy your favorite foods and drinks or talk comfortably with friends and family. For a professional musician whose livelihood depends on moving and squeezing the mouth and tongue constantly, this is absolutely unacceptable.

Nancy Rumbel has enjoyed the pleasure of touring and recording with musicians such as Eric Tingstad, David Lanz, and the Paul Winter Consort. However, these performances and recordings are painful when she has a canker sore. Finally, she has found a solution to this persistent problem. CankerMelts, created by ORAHEALTH, give her the relief she needs to comfortably continue making her unique and wonderful music. "Now that I use CankerMelts, I am happy to say that I'm not worried when a canker sore appears because I know I have help. I would never be without them, either at home or on the road," said Rumbel.

CankerMelts is the first product on the market to combine a patented time-release oral medicated patch with the natural clinically-proven remedy Glycyrrhiza (licorice) extract. According to Rumbel, CankerMelts delivers fast, targeted pain relief and speeds healing without numbing or mess. Pain relief (not numbing of the mouth) is achieved in roughly 10 minutes and the all-natural disc dissolves slowly in the mouth, providing 2-6 hours of time-released medication exactly in the needed spot.

In recently completed clinical research at the University of Washington, after 3 days of use about 8 hours per day, 8 out of 10 people using CankerMelts had no more base pain (pain with no irritation), twice the number of people who applied no treatment. After 7 days of use 8 hours per day, canker sores treated with CankerMelts shrank to one-tenth their original size while untreated canker sores grew larger. In a prior study published in Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology and Endodontology (OOOOE) April 2005, 26 out of 27 canker sores (96%) that were treated with Cankermelts for at least 16 hours per day, including while sleeping, healed in 3 days or less.

"All woodwind and brass instrument players who get canker sores need to know about CankerMelts," Rumbel said. "Our teeth, tongue and lips are used constantly in our various embouchures, so you can imagine how disturbing it is when a canker sore starts to emerge. I have probably tried every over-the-counter product available for canker sore treatment. The speed and efficiency of how CankerMelts works for me is astonishing. What a great relief it is to know that there is finally something on the market that can help so quickly with the pain and diminish the length of time that the canker sore exists. I would recommend CankerMelts to all woodwind and brass instrument musicians who get canker sores—to anyone for that matter.”

CankerMelts is available nationwide at CVS/pharmacy and Long’s Drugs and on internet sites including amazon.com, drugstore.com and dentist.net. Any pharmacy can order Cankermelts from their wholesale suppliers. The product has a suggested retail price of under $8 for a package of 12 discs, and under $12 for a package of 18 discs.

For more information visit www.orahealth.com.

About ORAHEALTH

ORAHEALTH Corporation, a privately-held company specializing in over-the-counter canker sore and other mouth disease treatments, is committed to providing the most effective treatments for the more than 60 million canker sore sufferers nationwide. ORAHEALTH founder and chief scientist Jeff Haley, a lifelong canker sore sufferer, searched for a satisfactory remedy until he decided to take matters into his own hands. In 2002, he returned to his roots as a scientist, chemist and engineer, combined this with his experience as a patent attorney helping other inventors and created the company’s first product called Cankermelts. Cankermelts is the only canker sore treatment to use the traditional herbal medicine Glycyrrhiza extract (licorice) and an exclusive patented time-release oral medicated patch to deliver guaranteed fast, pinpoint pain relief and healing without numbing. Based in Bellevue, Washington, ORAHEALTH is a center of innovation to provide better oral health through medical science.

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