Effect of 0.5% Chitosan mouthwash on recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a randomized double-blind crossover clinical trial

Background: Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) is one of the most common painful oral lesions of which there is no certain treatment. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Chitosan mouthwash 0.5% on RAS. Methods: This randomized double-blind crossover clinical trial was conducted at a dental school in Babol, Iran, from 2015 to 2016. Twenty patients with a history of minor aphthous stomatitis were entered into this study. All patients were initially monitored in the first episode without treatment, and then were randomly treated in three other episodes with Chitosan, Triamcinolone or Biogel mouthwashes. The ulcer size and pain intensity by using visual analogous score (VAS) were recorded in each episode. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey test. We used SPSS version 20 to analyze data. Results: The mean ulcer size on the fifth day (p=0.026, p=0.042, respectively) and VAS on the third and fifth days (p=0.011, p=0.013, respectively) were significantly less in Triamcinolone and Chitosan groups than Biogel and the no treatment episode. There were no significant differences between Chitosan and Triamcinolone groups in the average ulcer size and pain intensity in all the examination days. Conclusions: Chitosan mouthwash is effective on pain relief and reducing ulcer size of minor aphthous stomatitis and this effect is almost the same as Triamcinolone mouthwash. Clinical trial registration: The study was registered and approved by Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.irct.ir) with IRCT ID: IRCT2015030718753N2. Funding: The study was funded by Deputy of Research and Technology of Babol University of Medical Sciences (ref. no.: 9133625)