Correlation between dietary habits and recurrent aphthous stomatitis in dental students of Universitas Sumatera Utara

Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS) is an oral inflammation with recurrent round or oval-shaped ulcers. Nutritional deficiency appears to be one of the predisposing factors that suspected to be related to nutritional intake which can be described by dietary habits. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between dietary habits and Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis in dental students of Universitas Sumatera Utara. The design of this study was an analytical survey with a case-control approach. The subject of this study was 60 active academic dental students of Universitas Sumatera Utara that selected based on the inclusion criteria such as female dental students who have no systemic diseases or currently taking any medication, not menstruating, not pregnant, not using orthodontic appliances or dentures, agreeing to take part in this study, uncooperative subject during this study were excluded. Data related to RAS was collected based on clinical examination meanwhile data related to dietary habits was collected based on questionnaires. The data of dietary habits in RAS and non-RAS was compared by a Chi-square test. This study shows there was a correlation between the amount of food and RAS (p = 0.006, OR = 0.069) but there was no correlation between the type of food and RAS (p = 0.779), although there was a correlation between dietary habits and RAS (p = 0.026, OR = 0.095). The conclusion of this study is there was a correlation between dietary habits and Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis in dental students of Universitas Sumatera Utara.