The frequency and etiology of recurrent apthous stomatitis in helicobacter pylori positıve patients

Objective: Recurrent aphthous ulcerations (RAU) is a disease characterized by recurrent painful ulcerations of the oral mucosa. The etiopathogenesis of the disease still unknown, and recently the role of Helicobacter pylori (HP) is overlooked. RAU frequency and etiologic factors of HP positive patients have been investigated in this study. Materials and Methods: 64 patients who attended to Mustafa Kemal University Department of Nuclear Medicine and presented with positive HP were included in the study. A questionnaire about sociodemographic characteristics and etiologies for RAU was administered to the patients. Results: The mean age of 64 patients determined a HP infection with C14 urea breath test was 54.1 ± 19.3. 35(54.7% ) of 64 patients were females , 29( 45.3 % ) of 64 patients were males . Smoking prevalence rate were 65.6%. 43.8 % of patients had RAU 1-3 times per year , 35.9 % more than 3 times. 35.9 % of the patients had RAU in tongue, 28.1% of the patients had RAU on lips, tongue and cheek. 42% of the patients had minor, 51.6 % of patients had major, 6.4% of patients had herpetiform ulcers. The average degree of pain ( score out of ten ) were found 7.39 ± 1.54 . There was correlation between the number of aphthae in the past year and the degree of pain. The degree of pain in herpetiform ulcers were higher. Familial history was found to be 32.8%. 68.7 % of the patients had reflux. 51.6 % of the patients declared hoarseness. Conclusion: High incidence of RAU in HP positive patients and patients with reflux may cause the idea that HP may be suspected to be an etiologic factor of RAU.