Association of Lifestyle and Aphthous Stomatitis among Dentistry Students

Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is the most common ulcerative oral lesions. Many factors including genetics, stress, lifestyle, gastric diseases and nutritional habits play a major role in the etiology of recurrent aphthous ulcers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the lifestyle of patients with a history of aphthous stomatitis. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 99 dentistry students with a history of aphthous stomatitis. The control group consisted of 145 dentistry students without any history of the lesion. Demographic information and lifestyle factors including smoking, body mass index, place of living, marital status, regular exercise were recorded. Nutritional habits were evaluated using a modified Food Frequency Questionnaire containing 95 food variables. Independent t-test and Mann Whitney test were used to compare the two groups. Linear regression analysis were used to determine the predictors. Results: There were no significant difference in nutritional habits of study participants. A family history of RAS was more frequently noticed in the case group (43.1%) rather than control group (27.7). Multivariate logistic regression model showed that the most powerful predictors of aphthous lesions were familial history of lesions (OR = 2.4, 95%CI: 1.11-5.13) and food allergy (OR = 4.71, 95%CI: 2.70 to 8.22) respectively. Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, life style and diet are not associated with aphthous lesions. Considering that aphthous stomatitis is a multifactorial disease, there is a need to study other risk factors and laboratory tests.