Abstract
Background: The objective of this study was to determine the most effective treatment option for burning mouth syndrome. Methods: Informative treatment alone, B vitamin injections, oral cavity probiotics, and low-level laser therapy were evaluated and compared. The study included new patients diagnosed with burning mouth syndrome, who were randomly allocated into one of four treatment groups. The primary outcome was improvement in patient’s quality of life as determined by a self-perceived Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) quality of life questionnaire before and after therapy. The secondary outcome was determination of mucosal symptom intensity according to visual analog scale (VAS) grading from 0 to 10. Data were submitted to statistical analysis. Results: A total of 62 patients completed the study. Oral cavity probiotics and LLLT scores for OHIP-14 resulted in a statistically significant difference before and after therapy. Standardized effect sizes between OHIP scores before and after treatment were the greatest for patients who had received oral cavity probiotics. Conclusions: Oral cavity probiotics and LLLT were the most effective treatment for improvement in quality of life. Further investigation on a larger group of patients is required.
Highlights
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by idiopathic burning or painful sensations of oral mucosa with clinically unchanged appearance
At the beginning of the study, they filled out a self-perceived quality of life questionnaire (Oral Health Impact Profile; Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14)) and determined the intensity of mucosal symptoms according to the visual analog scale (VAS) grading from 0 to 10 (0 = without symptoms, 10 = the worst possible symptoms), which was repeated at the check-up one month after the treatment ended
Significant differences in OHIP scores before and after therapy were detected for oral cavity probiotics and level laser therapy (LLLT)
Summary
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by idiopathic burning or painful sensations of oral mucosa with clinically unchanged appearance. Two clinical forms of BMS were proposed by Scala et al, namely primary BMS, which is defined as burning sensation of the oral mucosa without any local or systemic causes, and secondary BMS, which may be a result of some local or systemic causes [2]. These causes include oral infections, hyposialia, allergies, nutritional deficiencies, endocrine disorders, administration of some drugs, oral mucosal diseases such as oral lichen planus, etc. The study included new patients diagnosed with burning mouth syndrome, who were randomly allocated into one of four treatment groups.
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