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Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is a recurrent painful ulcerative disorder that commonly affects
the oral mucosa. Local and systemic factors such as trauma, food sensitivity, nutritional deficiencies, systemic
conditions, immunological disorders and genetic polymorphisms are associated with the development of
the disease. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a gram-negative, microaerophile bacteria, that colonizes the gastric
mucosa and it was previously suggested to be involved in RAS development. In the present paper we reviewed all
previous studies that investigated the association between RAS and H. pylori.
Material and Methods: A search in Pubmed (MEDLINE) databases was made of articles published up until July
2015 using the following keywords: Helicobacter Pylori or H. pylori and RAS or Recurrent aphthous stomatitis.
Results: Fifteen experimental studies that addressed the relationship between infection with H. pylori and the
presence of RAS and three reviews, including a systematic review and a meta-analysis were included in this
review. The studies reviewed used different methods to assess this relationship, including PCR, nested PCR,
culture, ELISA and urea breath test. A large variation in the number of patients included in each study, as well as
inclusion criteria and laboratorial methods was observed. H. pylori can be detected in the oral mucosa or ulcerated
lesion of some patients with RAS. The quality of the all studies included in this review was assessed using levels
of evidence based on the University of Oxford’s Center for Evidence Based Medicine Criteria.
Conclusions: Although the eradication of the infection may affect the clinical course of the oral lesions by undetermined
mechanisms, RAS ulcers are not associated with the presence of the bacteria in the oral cavity and there
is no evidence that H. pylori infection drives RAS development
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