A review of animal models for burning mouth syndrome: Mechanistic insights and knowledge gaps.

Abstract

The underlying mechanisms of burning mouth syndrome (BMS) remain unclear leading to challenges and unsatisfactory management. Current treatments focus primarily on symptom relief, with few consistently achieving a 50% reduction in pain. This review aims to explore animal models of BMS to gain a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms and to discuss potential and existing knowledge gaps. A comprehensive review of PubMed®, Google Scholar, and Scopus was performed to assess advances and significant gaps of existing rodent models that mimic BMS-related symptoms. Rodent models of BMS involve reproduction of dry-tongue, chorda tympani transection, or overexpression of artemin protein. Existing preclinical models tend to highlight one specific etiopathogenesis and often overlook sex- and hormone-specific factors. Combining aspects from various BMS models could prove beneficial in developing comprehensive experimental designs and outcomes encompassing the multifaceted nature of BMS.