You may have heard about shingles and how common it is. One out of every three people in the United States will develop shingles in their lifetime. Shingles is a viral outbreak triggered by herpes family called herpes zoster, which causes chickenpox. If you had chickenpox as a child, that same virus remains in your system and can reactivate later as shingles, a rash of blisters on parts of your body.
A shingles outbreak typically starts with sensitivity and a tingling or burning sensation on the skin. After a few days, the burning sensation turns into small red blisters. These blisters are highly contagious: even if a shingles outbreak begins in one part of your body, it can spread to other regions such as your mouth. Mouth shingles can be pretty worrying and painful, so you should know what it is and how to spot it so you can treat it quickly.