Key TakeawaysVitamin B12 deficiency has been linked to canker sores.A daily dose of vitamin B12 may help prevent recurring canker sores.Canker sores typically go away on their own after a few weeks. If they don’t, have your provider or dentist take a look at them.

Key Takeaways

Vitamin B12 deficiency has been linked to canker sores.A daily dose of vitamin B12 may help prevent recurring canker sores.Canker sores typically go away on their own after a few weeks. If they don’t, have your provider or dentist take a look at them.

While it may feel isolated, your oral health can be quite indicative of the health of the rest of your body.Canker sores, for example, can be a sign of vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiency.

With that in mind, is it possible that adding enough of a vitamin like B12 into your diet can prevent or treat canker sore? Research suggests that it could reduce canker sore frequency among those who get them often,and that topical vitamin B12 can lessen canker sore pain.

However, vitamin B12 is not top of mind for oral or medical professionals when it comes to treating canker sores, though some say it can be a viable method for prevention. That’s because data is limited, and the exact cause of canker sores is unknown.

“I have never recommended nor prescribed vitamin B12 to treat canker sores,”Laleh Gharahbaghian, MD, professor of emergency medicine at Stanford Health Care, told Verywell. “The research and theories behind vitamin B12 show that patients with low intake of B12 or with a B12 deficiency are more likely to have recurrent canker sores, suggesting that adding B12 daily can be a preventative intervention, but not a treatment.”

What Causes Canker Sores?

Canker sores—also calledaphthous stomatitisoraphthous ulcers—are painful yellow or white sores inside the mouth. They usually form on the insides of the cheeks, lips, or tongue. Cankers are common, affecting about 20% of people, especially teenagers and young adults.

While the exact cause of canker sores is unknown, experts think that genetics, smoking, injury, stress, food allergies, and vitamin B12 and folic acid deficiencies can all play a role.

For some people, canker sores are associated with a nutrient deficiency, which is why B12 supplementation could help with prevention.

For other people, the sores can pop up following viral or bacterial infection, or could even be associated with food allergies.

Given how many possible causes there are, Sahota said that it’s “important to consult a medical or dental professional if you have concerns about the frequency, duration, and symptoms of your canker sores.”

Role of Vitamin B12

The link between vitamin B12deficiencyand mouth sores is not totally understood. Vitamin B12 is a key nutrient that the body needs for blood cell reproduction as well as for protecting the nervous system from vision problems and memory loss. You can get vitamin B12 from foods as well as from supplements.

Other causes of a vitamin B12 deficiency include:

Your healthcare provider can easily check your levels of vitamin B12 with a quick blood test. Common treatments for a vitamin B12 deficiency are dietary supplements, prescribed injections, or a nasal spray.

How Can You Tell If You Have a Vitamin B12 Deficiency?

How to Prevent and Treat Canker Sores Without B12

Minor canker sores usually go away on their own in a week or two and do not require any specific treatment. Preventing canker sores starts with figuring out what’s triggering them.

“People that suffer from canker sores typically don’t get them often,”Kila Wells, a registered dental hygienist in California, told Verywell. “For treatment, we recommend first changing toothpaste.”

Why changetoothpaste? Sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) is a common ingredient in toothpaste that helps make it foam up when you brush your teeth. SLS has been linked to canker sores, so using an SLS-free toothpaste may help prevent mouth ulcers.

Wells said it’s also important to be aware ofwhenyou’re getting cankers.

“Sometimes, it’s due to mouth trauma from poking themselves with their toothbrush or eating a hard piece of bread, and sometimes it may be due to something they are eating.”

Other tips for preventing canker sores include:

If you get a lot of canker sores orget them often, talk to your provider about treatment and prevention. Topical vitamin B12 could be one option worth trying, but there are also others:

What This Means For YouCanker sores are usually minor oral health problems that will get better on their own. If you’ve tried to avoid triggers and are taking steps to treat them at home but you’re still getting them, you might want to talk to your provider or dentist about a possible vitamin B12 deficiency, and OTC and prescription products that are effective at treating canker sores.

What This Means For You

Canker sores are usually minor oral health problems that will get better on their own. If you’ve tried to avoid triggers and are taking steps to treat them at home but you’re still getting them, you might want to talk to your provider or dentist about a possible vitamin B12 deficiency, and OTC and prescription products that are effective at treating canker sores.

How to Get Rid of Canker Sores

7 Sources

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Liu HL, Chiu SC.The effectiveness of vitamin B12 for relieving pain in aphthous ulcers: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.Pain Manag Nurs. 2015;16(3):182-187. doi:10.1016/j.pmn.2014.06.008

Wang Z, Cao H, Xiong J, et al.Recent advances in the aetiology of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS).Postgrad Med J. 2022;98(1155):57-66. doi:10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139421

National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements.Vitamin B12: fact sheet for health professionals.

Green R, Allen LH, Bjørke-Monsen AL, et al.Vitamin B12 deficiency.Nat Rev Dis Primers. 2017;3:17040. doi:10.1038/nrdp.2017.40

Mohn ES, Kern HJ, Saltzman E, Mitmesser SH, McKay DL.Evidence of drug-nutrient interactions with chronic use of commonly prescribed medications: an update.Pharmaceutics. 2018;10(1):36. doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics10010036

Alli BY, Erinoso OA, Olawuyi AB.Effect of sodium lauryl sulfate on recurrent aphthous stomatitis: a systematic review.J Oral Pathol Med. 2019;48(5):358-364. doi:10.1111/jop.12845

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