Comparing the Effect of Injectable Vitamin B With Conventional Oral Treatment on Aphthous Stomatitis

Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a common condition with recurrent ulcerations limited to the oral mucosa. Different predisposing factors have been proposed, including iron, vitamin B12, and folic acid deficiencies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of injectable vitamin B in comparison with a form of oral therapy on recurrent Aphthous stomatitis. Methods: This randomized clinical trial was performed on 60 patients with RAS, during years 2015 and 2017. All patients were at least 18 years of age without systemic disease associated with RAS. All the study population had a minor type of Aphthous ulcers with two months of maximum recurrence intervals during the last year. Additionally, all patients benefited from a checklist, including demographic data and relapse intervals, and a number of lesions were completed before the start of the study. Also, blood tests were performed to evaluate a complete counting of blood cells, and levels of ferritin, vitamin B12, and folic acid. Next, patients were randomly divided to two groups comprised of those that received eight weeks of injectable vitamin B (a combination of B1, B6, and B12) and those on eight weeks of chewable tablets (a combination of iron, folic acid, vitamin B complex, and vitamin C). Finally, all patients were monitored for 10 months. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of deficiencies in ferritin, vitamin B12, and folic acid (P > 0.05). In the injectable form of treatment, the efficacy was excellent in 14, moderate in 12, and low in four patients while in the oral form, the efficacy was moderate in nine and low in 12 patients. It is important to consider that there was no response to treatment in nine patients. Conclusions: The injectable form of Vitamins B that contains a high dose of vitamin B had better efficacy than the oral form. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the injectable form of vitamin B might be an effective treatment as it is considered a simple, inexpensive, and low-risk treatment for patients with RAS, regardless of ferritin, vitamin B12, and folic acid levels.