Clinical and therapeutic experience in twenty eight patients with burning mouth syndrome

Abstract

Aim: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a chronic painful syndrome in clinically normal oral mucosa. There are many local, systemic and/or psychogenic pathological conditions that may clinically appear as burning and painful sensation of the oral mucosa. There are essential or idiopathic BMS and organic or secondary BMS. A diagnostic and therapeutic protocol is proposed by the authors evaluating, the effectiveness of the estroprogestinic replacement therapy in post-menopausal women suffering from idiopathic BMS.

Methods: A total of 28 patients suffering from persistent burning and painful oral sensation underwent to careful clinical and laboratory examination in order to distinguish primary forms from secondary ones. Patients suffering from primary BMS underwent to incisional biopsy for the research of estrogens receptors.

Results: Only 8 out of the 28 studied patients (28.5%) were negative to the clinical oral and laboratory examinations listed in our protocol and they were diagnosed for primary BMS. All of them were females.

Conclusions: The use of a valid diagnostic and therapeutic protocol allows a better management of patients suffering from oral pain and a reduction if not a disappearance of the burning symptomatology in most of them. In post-menopausal patients suffering from idiopathic BMS good results may be obtained by an estroprogestinic replacement therapy.