A Study on The Clinical Characteristics and Treatment in Burning Mouth Syndrome

구강 작엽감 증후군 (BMS)의 임상적 특징 및 치료에 관한 연구

Burning mouth syndrome is characterized by a burning sensation in oral cavity without clinical signs. There has b een no established theories about the diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of this article is to examine the clinical feature of BMS patients of Korean and to present a treatment protocol that can be helpful in clinical applications. The subjects chosen for the study were 52 patients who had visited Department of Oral Diagnosis at Yonsei University Dental Hospital and were diagnosed as BMS. We did questionnaires and precise oral exam, laboratory exam, grouping of our patients, individual treatment for the groups and classification of responses to the treatment. The following results were obtained: 1. Chief complaints were throbbing (71.2%), pricking, stinging, tingling (30.8%), burning(25a%). The tongue is the most frequently affected site (82.7%), followed by full mouth, gingiva, palate, buccal mucosa, lips, throat, labial mucosa and floor of mouth. 2. The average age of onset was 48.1 year and the male to female ratio was 1 to 3. The average duration of symptom was 11.69 months for male and 23.07 months for female. 3. 32.7% of patients had appealed continuous pain, which was the most cases. Aggravating factors were peppery food, salty food, hot food, fatigue, tension conversation, sour food, cold food and toothpaste. Reducing factors were cold food, diet, going to sleep and smoking. 4. Associated symptoms were dry mouth, other life problem, altered taste perception, bad taste, throat pain, tingle and difficulty in swallowing. 5. Most of patients had appealed that there was not associated event on onset of symptom, and the order of prevalence is as fallow; dental treatment, stress, denture wearing, an attack of a systemic disease. 92.3% of patient appealed that there was no psychological withering and 7.7% of patients appealed positively. 6. There were eight males and four females that had jobs. 7. There was no family history in 100% of patients in questions about presence of family history. 8. 96.2% of patients appealed that there was no oral habits. 13.5% of patients had dryness of oral mucosa in oral exam. A significant relation to dental prosthesis was not observable, but incidence of diseases due to stress appeared high in BMS which had the clinical characteristics as above. A group having low serum iron was 63.5% and in this group period of potential iron deficiency appeared high in incidence just before move to anemia. A group represented positive response was 38.5% in fungus study for Candida albicans. Since we can expect high treatment response by prescription of iron-contained drug and antifungal drug in these patients, diagnosing patients' condition of BMS can be achieved in more various aspects through study for serum iron and Candida albicans. Furthermore, it is expected that treatment protocol can be made.