Introduction: Recurrent aphthous ulcer is one of the most common oral diseases worldwide. The prevalence ranges from 2% to 66% in different populations. Detection of the prevalence of oral ulcerations in the general population is very important as the ulcers have significant negative effects on the oral health, irrespective to the etiology. Moreover, many syndromes were known to be associated with recurrent aphthous ulcers.
Aim: the present study was performed to detect RAU prevalence among a sample of Egyptian population and to find out its incidence in relation to the precipitating factors.
Subjects & Methods: The present study was performed on a total of 4362 subjects, 1874 males and 2488 females. The subjects were recruited from the outpatient clinic of Oral Medicine and Periodontology Department, Faculty of Dentistry, Cairo University. For patients with RAU, the diagnostic sheets were provided. Data obtained from the questionnaire was analyzed using software SPSS 16.0 for windows
Results: There were 50/4362 cases with aphthous ulcer giving a prevalence of 1.15%. Ten cases (20.0%) had major aphthous ulcer while 40 cases (80.0%) had minor aphthous ulcer and no herpetiform aphthous ulcers were reported.
Conclusions: The present study shed the light on the prevalence of recurrent aphthous ulcers and also pointed to the importance of a thorough history taking to identify the main risk factors of the ulceration and then to get the needed preventive measures.