Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar;48(3):308-331.
doi: 10.1111/joor.13123. Epub 2020 Nov 19.

Developing a research diagnostic criteria for burning mouth syndrome: Results from an international Delphi process

Charlotte C Currie  1 , Richard Ohrbach  2 , Reny De Leeuw  3 , Heli Forssell  4 , Yoshiki Imamura  5 , Satu K Jääskeläinen  6 , Michail Koutris  7 , Cibele Nasri-Heir  8 , Tan Huann  9 , Tara Renton  9 , Peter Svensson  10 , Justin Durham  1
Affiliations

Developing a research diagnostic criteria for burning mouth syndrome: Results from an international Delphi process

Charlotte C Currie et al. J Oral Rehabil. 2021 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: To develop a beta version of a preliminary set of empirically derived research diagnostic criteria (RDC) for burning mouth syndrome (BMS) through expert consensus, which can then be taken into a test period before publication of a final RDC/BMS.

Design: A 6 round Delphi process with twelve experts in the field of BMS was used. The first round formed a focus group during which the purpose of the RDC and the definition of BMS was agreed upon, as well as the structure and contents. The remaining rounds were carried out virtually via email to achieve a consensus of the beta version of the RDC/BMS.

Results: The definition of BMS was agreed to be 'an intraoral burning or dysaesthetic sensation, recurring daily for more than 2 hours per day over more than 3 months, without evident causative lesions on clinical examination and investigation'. The RDC was based upon the already developed and validated RDC/TMD and formed three main parts: patient self-report; examination; and psychosocial self-report. A fourth additional part was also developed listing aspirational biomarkers which could be used as part of the BMS diagnosis where available, or to inform future research.

Conclusion: This Delphi process has created a beta version of an RDC for use with BMS. This will allow future clinical research within BMS to be carried out to a higher standard, ensuring only patients with true BMS are included. Further validation studies will be required alongside refinement of the RDC as trialling progresses.

Keywords: burning mouth syndrome; oral dysaesthesia glossodynia; orofacial pain; research diagnostic criteria; stomatodynia.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. International Headache Society. International Classification of Orofacial Pain. Cephalalgia. 2020;40:129-221.
    1. McMillan R, Forssell H, Buchanan JA, Glenny A-M, Weldon JC, Zakrzewska JM. Interventions for treating burning mouth syndrome. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016;11:1465-1858. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD002779.pub3
    1. Bergdahl M, Bergdahl J. Burning mouth syndrome: prevalence and associated factors. J Oral Pathol Med. 1999;28(8):350-354.
    1. Femiano F. Statistical survey of afferent pathologies during a 5-year study in the oral pathology Department at the Second University of Naples. Minerva Stomatol. 2002;51(3):73-78.
    1. Lipton JA, Ship JA, Larach-Robinson D. Estimated prevalence and distribution of reported orofacial pain in the United States. J Am Dent Assoc. 1993;124(10):115-121.

LinkOut - more resources