Separating oral burning from burning mouth syndrome: unravelling a diagnostic enigma
R Balasubramaniam,
GD Klasser,
R Delcanho,
R Balasubramaniam
School of Dentistry, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia.
Perth Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Centre, St John of God Hospital, Subiaco Clinic, Subiaco, Western Australia.
Search for more papers by this authorGD Klasser
Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Search for more papers by this authorR Delcanho
School of Dentistry, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia.
Perth Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Centre, St John of God Hospital, Subiaco Clinic, Subiaco, Western Australia.
Search for more papers by this authorR Balasubramaniam,
GD Klasser,
R Delcanho,
R Balasubramaniam
School of Dentistry, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia.
Perth Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Centre, St John of God Hospital, Subiaco Clinic, Subiaco, Western Australia.
Search for more papers by this authorGD Klasser
Department of Oral Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Dentistry, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Search for more papers by this authorR Delcanho
School of Dentistry, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia.
Perth Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine Centre, St John of God Hospital, Subiaco Clinic, Subiaco, Western Australia.
Search for more papers by this authorRamesh Balasubramaniam
Clinical Associate Professor
Perth Orofacial Pain and Oral Medicine CentreSt John of God Hospital Subiaco ClinicSuite 311, 25 McCourt StreetSubiaco WA 6008Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by burning pain in the tongue or other oral mucous membrane often associated with symptoms such as subjective dryness of the mouth, paraesthesia and altered taste for which no medical or dental cause can be found. The difficulty in diagnosing BMS lies in excluding known causes of oral burning. A pragmatic approach in clarifying this issue is to divide patients into either primary (essential/idiopathic) BMS, whereby other disease is not evident or secondary BMS, where oral burning is explained by a clinical abnormality. The purpose of this article was to provide the practitioner with an understanding of the local, systemic and psychosocial factors which may be responsible for oral burning associated with secondary BMS, therefore providing a foundation for diagnosing primary BMS.
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