Ahead of Print

Abstract

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a medical condition with a complex and multifactorial etiology. It is characterized by a burning sensation, a dysaesthetic sensation, and pain in the tongue and/or oral mucosa. Since the BMS etiology is unknown, its treatment is a real challenge. This review aims to discuss the efficacy of the various therapeutic options currently available for BMS.
This review was performed by searching the literature for papers published in the last 5 years in Portuguese, English and Spanish, in the PubMed indexed database, using the terms “burning mouth syndrome”, “treatment” and “therapy”.
From 43 papers, we selected 12 clinical trials, nine systematic reviews, eight literature reviews and one meta-analysis. The results indicate the use of topical and systemic clonazepam, topic capsaicin, alpha-lipoic acid, gabapentin and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors as the most effective therapies. Photobiomodulation therapy has shown to reduce pain. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is very effective.
Analyzing the selected studies, we found that there is a wide variety of therapeutic alternatives for BMS, namely the use of benzodiazepines, antidepressants, analgesics, anticonvulsants, saliva substitute, phototherapy, psychotherapy and others. Most studies report topical or systemic clonazepam as effective in pain control. Photobiomodulation has shown promising results in patients’ pain control and improvement in quality of life. Although there is no definitive therapy for BMS, the combination of pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral therapies seems to be more effective in symptomatic control.