Burning mouth syndrome

Abstract

In spite of the normal clinical appearance of the oral mucosa, BMS subjects do have demonstrated changes in sensory perception and salivary factors in addition to alterations in psychologic features. Although some of these changes may be suggestive of a peripheral or central dysfunction of small afferent nerve fibres, the extent of this alteration and its cause both remain unclear. The existence of changes other than psychologic, however, do weaken the proposition that BMS has a primarily psychogenic origin and suggests instead that future research should address the question of other organic changes in BMS.