Micronutrient Imbalance and Inflammatory Activity in Oral Mucosal Diseases
DOI::
https://doi.org/10.5195/d3000.2026.1542کلمات کلیدی:
Diet, Oral Medicine, Inflammation, Vitamin, Lichen Planus, Stomatitisچکیده
The objectives of this study were to assess the relationship between micronutrient status and inflammatory activity in patients with oral mucosal diseases and to investigate whether there was a relationship between clinical severity and the pathological pattern of oral mucosal lesions, and the micronutrient status. This clinical observational cross sectional study was carried out over patients diagnosed with oral mucosal diseases, and healthy control participants. All patients were clinically evaluated by oral medicine specialists and lesions were classified based on clinical diagnosis of recurrent aphthous stomatitis, oral lichen planus, glossitis/burning mouth syndrome, oral candidiasis and oral potentially malignant disorders. Blood samples were taken to examine the hemoglobin, serum ferritin, vitamin B12 and folate, zinc, vitamin D, and some inflammatory markers. Clinical severity was determined by pain intensity, lesion number, lesion size, frequency of recurrence and healing duration. Data were analyzed statistically to compare micronutrient and inflammatory profiles between patients and controls and to look for association between nutritional deficiency and disease severity
.Micro-nutrient deficiencies were more common in patients with oral mucosal diseases than in healthy controls. Vitamin B12, ferritin, iron, zinc and Vitamin D deficiencies were more common in patients with recurrent aphthous stomatitis, glossitis, burning sensations and erosive oral lichen planus. Higher inflammatory activity is correlated with more severe clinical condition, delay in healing and reappearance of lesions. In patients with combined micronutrient deficiencies, the mucosal discomfort, recurrence frequency and the time for epithelial recovery were higher than in patients not deficient. There was a stronger correlation of the potentially malignant oral conditions with the oxidative and inflammatory markers than with single-nutrient deficiencies. Clinical presentation and inflammatory activity of oral mucosal diseases may be related to micronutrient imbalance. While these lesions may be attributed exclusively to nutritional deficiency, this could also serve as an important modifying factor and affect mucosal integrity, recurrence, healing and the severity of the disease. Oral medicine practice may benefit from incorporating nutritional and inflammatory assessment for better diagnosis, risk assessment, and personalized management of patients with oral mucosal diseases.
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حق نشر 2026 Zaidoon Jasim Rmaidh, Wafaa Jabbar Hussein, Amir Abd Majeed

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