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Canker sore help might come with vitamin B12, a study finds.

Canker sores are shallow, painful sores in the mouth. They are usually red or may sometimes have a white coating over them. You might get them on the inside of your lips, the insides of your cheeks, the base of your gums or under your tongue.

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Beersheba, Israel, did the study. It involved 58 people who had canker sores. Dentists sometimes refer to canker sores as aphthous stomatitis.

People were randomly chosen to take either 1,000 micrograms of Vitamin B12 or a fake pill every day. The pills were placed under each person’s tongue and allowed to dissolve. This is referred to as a sublingual dose. Vitamin B12 often is taken in this way because it gets into the blood better and faster.

After 6 months, 74% of people taking B12 had no canker sores, compared with 32% of the people taking fake pills. People taking B12 also had less pain from canker sores, fewer existing sores, and fewer outbreaks of new sores.

Canker sores in the mouth affect about 20% of people. They tend to run in families. These sores often are confused with cold sores. Cold sores are caused by a virus. No one is quite sure what causes canker sores.

The study appears in the January-February issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

by Nancy Volkers
InteliHealth News Service