Burning Mouth Syndrome
Burning Mouth Syndrome is known as one of the sequelea of wearing complete dentures. Complete Dentures when left unchecked in the condition of Burning Mouth Syndrome or any other conditions can produce severe side effects like :
- Destabilization of occlussion.
- Loss of retention.
- Poor aesthetics.
- Increase ridge resorption and lots of other consequences can be seen.
Burning Mouth Syndrome is mainly characterized by burning sensation in the mouth without having any particular changes in the mucosa of oral cavity.
Burning Mouth Syndrome is different from Burning mouth sensation where the condition shows the inflammation of mucosa and there can be lots of reason behind this. This sensation can be the follow up after having some mechanical irritation, infection or any allergic reaction.
Occurrence
Burning Mouth Syndrome is common in post menopausal women after the age of 50 who wears the denture. The patient mainly complaints of the burning sensation of the supporting structures of the denture and tongue. The Burning Mouth Syndrome is aggravated by fatigue, tension and intake of hot foods. The patients feels less problems by these symptoms during sleep, mind distraction activities and during eating.
Clinical Features
Burning Mouth Syndrome is accompanied by some of the important clinical features and these are:
- No overt clinical signs and symptoms can be seen.
- Pain starts in the morning and it increases as the day time arrives.
- Burning Mouth Syndrome is usually accompanied with dry mouth and altered taste sensation can also be seen.
- Other symptoms that can be seen are headache, insomnia, decrease libido, depression etc.
Causes of Burning Mouth Syndrome
In the aetiology of Burning Mouth Syndrome, there can be the consideration of three main factors i.e. local factors, systemic factors, psychogenic factors.
Local Factors
- Mechanical irritation i.e. caused by the denture in the local area.
- Masticatory muscle activity that is constant in nature by the wearer.
- Excessive friction on the mucosa caused by denture.
- Myofacial pain.
- Candidial infection and allergic reactions.
Systemic Factors
- Vitamin and iron deficiency.
- Xerostomia.
- Menopause.
- Diabetes.
- Medication.
Psychogenic Factors
- Anxiety.
- Depression.
Treatment
It has been estimated that Burning Mouth Syndrome patients are more psychologically affected and it has been considered that these psychological disorders are due to poor fit of dentures. There requires the great need of counseling of these patients. But considering all this there needs the symptoms of Burning Mouth Syndrome to be reduced and to eliminate the fears of patient.
