Vitamin B12 levels in patients with oral mucosal diseases (OMD): A systematic review

Abstract

Background

Changes in the oral mucosa occur in more than one-fourth of the population aged 17 and older and in one-tenth of children aged 2–17 years old, and consequence on the oral health-related quality of life. Oral mucosal diseases affect the oral cavity and vary greatly. OMDs have been reported to be associated with several factors, such as vitamin B12 deficiencies.

Objective

This systematic review aims to investigate the vitamin B12 serum levels in patients with OMD.

Method

This systematic review was conducted using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Article searches with specific keywords were conducted through PubMed, Science Direct, and Ebscohost-CINAHL, published from 2018 to 2023. The search for articles was limited to human studies, cross-sectional and case-control designs, papers written in English, and the full-text availability. The risk assessment of bias uses tools from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Results

Twelve articles that meet the inclusion criteria were analyzed. The types of oral mucosal disease studied include atrophic glossitis (3 articles), OLP (2 articles), RAS (2 articles), OSF (2 articles), BMS (1 article), geographic tongue (1 article), and oral precancer (1 article). Vitamin B12 levels in OMD patients were significantly lower than healthy controls in 9 articles, while the levels were similar in 3 articles.

Conclusion

Patients with OMD have lower vitamin B12 levels than individuals without OMD.