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Evidence summaries

Topical Corticosteroids for Aphthous Stomatitis

Topical corticosteroids appear to be effective in reducing pain associated with recurrent aphthous ulceration and they appear to reduce the time with ulcers. Level of evidence: "B"

A topic in Clinical Evidence 1 summarizes the results of 9 RCTs, some with crossover design. 4 RCTs found that topical corticosteroids reduced the ulcer day index. The difference was significant in only two RCTs. Two out of six RCTs found that topical corticosteroids reduced ulcer duration or the total number of ulcer days. Three of four RCTs found that topical corticosteroids reduced pain. Clinical Evidence category: Unknown effectiveness.

Comment: The quality of evidence was downgraded by inconsistency of results.

References

  • Porter S, Scully C. What are the effects of treatments for recurrent aphthous ulcers. Aphthous ulcers (recurrent). Clinical Evidence 2005;13:1688-1691.

Primary/Secondary Keywords