Treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS; Aphthae; canker sores) with a barrier forming mouth rinse or topical gel formulation containing hyaluronic acid: A retrospective clinical study

Background: Use of hyaluronic acid-based products has become a valuable alternative to drug-based approaches
in the treatment of recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). The presented study aimed to investigate the effect of a
barrier forming hyaluronic acid containing mouth wash or a topical gel formulation on the healing of RAS and
patient’s quality of life.
Methods: For this single-center retrospective study, medical records of the Dental School of the University of Brescia
were screened for adult and systemically health patients suffering from minor recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) and
treated with either a barrier forming, hyaluronic acid containing mouth wash (GUM® AftaClear® rinse) or a topical gel
(GUM® AftaClear® gel) in 2015. All patients fulfilling the in−/exclusion criteria and presenting full data sets on lesion
diameter, lesion color, as well as pain perception for baseline (day 0) and 4 and 7 days after treatment were enrolled
into the presented study.
Results: Out of 60 screened patients, a total of 20 patients treated with the Rinse formulation and 25 treated with the
Gel formulation were eligible for the enrollment into this study. Both groups showed equal distribution in patient’s age,
sex and presented a similar mean lesion size (3.0 ± 1.0 mm), lesion color distribution as well as pain perception at baseline.
All patients showed significant normalization of lesion color, reduction of pain, and lesion dimension within the course of
their treatment. After 7 days, the mean percentage of lesion reduction was highly significant for both groups attaining
77.4 ± 30.1% in the Rinse group and 81.2 ± 23.1% in the Gel group with a complete lesion closure obtained in 60 and
56% of the cases, respectively. However, a significant (p < 0.05) higher percentage of lesions in the Gel group (72%)
compared to the Rinse group (40%) showed an improvement in lesion size already after 3 days.
Conclusions: Within the limitation of retrospective design, it can be concluded that both the barrier forming hyaluronic
acid containing mouth rinse as well as the topical gel formulation are effective in the treatment of minor recurrent
aphthous stomatitis (RAS), with a trend for an earlier healing onset for the topical Gel formulation.