Feb. 6 (iVillage Total Health) -- In the battle of the sexes, men may have an edge over women when it comes to healing mouth sores and injuries.

A new study suggests that testosterone, the sex hormone responsible for male characteristics, may be the reason. Testosterone is present in the saliva. Although men and women both produce the hormone, it is more abundant in men.

Researchers from the College of Dentistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) studied 212 men and women. The participants were between the ages of 18 and 88. Each person received a circular wound on their gums between their first and second molars. The wounds were half the diameter of a pencil in size. Researchers videotaped the wounds at the same time each day for seven days to record healing and closure.

"While wounds to the skin heal more quickly in women than in men, our study suggested the opposite is true for healing of wounds inside the mouth," Dr. Phillip Marucha, head of periodontics at UIC said in a press release. "We discovered that, regardless of age, men's mouth wounds heal faster than women's."

He noted that older women in the study took the longest amount of time to heal. Their wounds healed half as slowly as younger men. The results may help periodontists or endodontists plan better treatment options for older, female patients undergoing gum surgery.

"There are an increasing number of surgical procedures being performed in older populations," Marucha said. "A greater emphasis needs to be placed on accelerating the healing process. Discovering the reasons behind these age and sex differences will help us improve treatment, and postsurgical recovery times may be reduced."

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