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. 2022 Jul 22;19(15):8903.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19158903.

Thermography as a Non-Ionizing Quantitative Tool for Diagnosing Burning Mouth Syndrome: Case-Control Study

Elena Nicolas-Rodriguez  1 , Ana Garcia-Martinez  1 , Diana Molino-Pagan  2 , Luis Marin-Martinez  3 , Eduardo Pons-Fuster  4 , Pia López-Jornet  5
Affiliations

Thermography as a Non-Ionizing Quantitative Tool for Diagnosing Burning Mouth Syndrome: Case-Control Study

Elena Nicolas-Rodriguez et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: Thermography is an imaging technique based on the acquisition and analysis of thermal data. The present study evaluates the use of tongue infrared thermography (IRT) as a tool for the diagnosis of burning mouth syndrome (BMS).

Material and methods: An IRT study was carried out in patients diagnosed with BMS according to the criteria of the International Association for the Study of Pain (n = 32) and in healthy controls (n = 35). Burning sensations, dry mouth and taste disturbances were assessed, and three temperature values were recorded for each tongue surface (dorsal, right lateral, left lateral and tip), along with body temperature and environmental temperature.

Results: A statistically significant difference was recorded in the temperature of the dorsal surface of the tongue between the BMS group and the controls (p = 0.01). The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.731 (95% CI: 0.402-0.657; p = 0.003). The sensitivity and specificity obtained was 62% and 77%, respectively.

Conclusions: Infrared thermography appears to be useful as a complementary tool for the diagnosis of BMS, though further studies are needed in this field.

Keywords: burning mouth syndrome; infrared thermography; tongue temperature.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Illustration of the areas of the tongue surface and infrared thermal images.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Curve ROC The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.731 (95% CI: 0.402–0.657; p = 0.003). The sensitivity and specificity obtained was 62% and 77%, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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