Assessment of Serum Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid in Patients with Oral Lichen Planus: A Case Control Study

Statement of problem: oral lichen planus (olp) is a chronic immunologicdisorder with unknown etiology. stress and anxiety are some risk factors forolp and vitamin b12 and folic acid have been proved to be effective micronutrientsfor prevention of anxiety and depression.purpose: the purpose of this study was to investigate serum vitamin b12and folic acid deficiency in patients with olp.materials and method: forty eight individuals (32 cases with histopathologicallyproven olp and 16 healthy subjects) were recruited. serum folic acidand vitamin b12 were assessed for each individual. t-test was applied fordata analysis.results: vitamin b12 deficiency was found in 8 of 32 cases with olp (25%)while in the control group it was found in 12.5% of the subjects ( p >0.05). ofthe 32 patients with olp, one had folic acid deficiency while none of thecontrol subjects had such a deficiency ( p >0.05).conclusion: although vitamin b12 deficiency in olp patients did not showa statistically significant difference compared with healthy subjects, it wasapproximately twice as much as the control group. and it can be suggestedthat vitamin b12 may have some effective roles in olp pathogenesis whilefolic acid deficiency cannot be considered as a prominent risk factor in olp.more studies are needed to prove such relation.