Impact of Helicobacter pylori on the clinical course of recurrent aphthous stomatitis

Background Recurrent aphthous stomatitis is one of the most common lesions of oral mucosa. Helicobacter pylori is suggested as one of the etiological agents of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Here, we conduct a study for evaluating the impact of H. pylori eradication on clinical course of recurrent aphthous stomatitis. Methods Forty-six patients with minor aphthous lesions were enrolled. The number of RAS lesions at last 6 months and vitamin B12 levels were recorded. All patients were detected for H. pylori with endoscopic biopsy. H. pylori was positive in 30 patients and negative in 16 patients. H. pylori-positive 30 patients received eradication therapy. Three months after therapy, patients were re-evaluated with urea breath test; 18 patients were negative (eradicated), and the remainders (12 patients) were positive (non-eradicated) for H. pylori. 6 months after eradication, vitamin B12 levels and number of aphthous lesions at 6 months were recorded. Results Vitamin B12 levels were significantly increased in H. pylori-eradicated group (P = 0.001), whereas no significant change was found in non-eradicated group (P = 0.638). Mean number of aphthous lesions (per 6 months) of H. pylori-eradicated group was significantly decreased after eradication (P = 0.0001); in the non-eradicated group, no significant change was found (P = 0.677). In Hp-positive group, number of RAS lesions and vitamin B12 levels were negatively correlated when evaluated both before and after eradication. Conclusions This study provides evidence to support the beneficial effect of H. pylori eradication in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis. The underlying mechanism might be the increase in vitamin B12 levels after eradication.