Vitamin B12 Found to Help Oral Health

by | Mar 19, 2009 | 2009, Oral Health, Vitamin B12

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Vitamin B12 treatment, which is inexpensive, and low-risk, seems to be effective for patients suffering from RAS, regardless of the blood vitamin B12 level.

Canker sores, also known as recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS), are one of the most common mouth conditions seen by primary care doctors, affecting one in five Americans (1).  They are characterized by isolated, painful, shallow, recurrent ulcers smaller than one centimeter in diameter that heal without scarring within 7-10 days, but may reappear monthly or several times during the year (2).  The cause of canker sores is still unknown.

Current medical treatments for canker sores include adhesive pastes (3), local antiseptics (4), antibiotics (5), topical non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin and ibuprofen (6), and steroids (7), but these treatments only achieve “short-term” (a few months) relief.  Now a new study (8) has found that vitamin B12 may help provide long-term benefits.

In the study, 58 patients with an average age of 30 suffering from canker sores were given either 1000 mcg of vitamin B12 per day (as a sublingual tablet) or placebo for six months.  During this time,  they provided feedback on the severity of their canker sores by using a Numerous Rating Scale (NRS) (9) and keeping track of the average duration (days) of a canker sore episode, monthly number of ulcers and severity of pain according to the NRS.  Blood samples were taken before the study began to measure the patients’ vitamin B12 level.

The researchers found that by the end of four months, those in the B12 group had episodes that were 36% shorter than the placebo group (2.36 vs. 3.65 days).   By six months, the B12 group was experiencing 48% shorter episodes (1.98 vs. 3.77 days).  Regarding the number of episodes per month, the B12 group had 60% fewer episodes during the first four months (6 vs. 14.74 episodes per month) and by six months, the B12 group had 72% fewer episodes per month (3.88 vs. 13.39).  Regarding pain, the B12 group reported 41% less pain than the control group during the first four months and 73% less pain by six months.

For the researchers, “Vitamin B12 treatment, which is simple, inexpensive, and low-risk, seems to be effective for patients suffering from RAS, regardless of the [blood] vitamin B12 level.”

Source: Volkov, Ilia, et al. “Effectiveness of vitamin B12 in treating recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.” The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine 22.1 (2009): 9-16.

© 2015 John Wiley & Sons

Posted March 19, 2009.

Reference:

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