Oral dysesthesia with a psychiatric perspective

Abstract

Oral dysesthesia defines unusual sensation like inexplicable tingling sensation that could not be explained by organic causes, foreign body feeling, taste changes, oral burn, and pain in the oral area. Burning mouth syndrome, atypic odontalgia, persistent idiopathic facial pain are considered a variant of oral dysesthesia and they are characterized by pain in the orofacial area and abnormal sensation. Many of the oral dysesthesia and variants are idiopathic and the underlying pathogenesis is not yet clear. It has been shown that it can coexist with many psychiatric diseases, especially somatoform disorder. Despite the frequency of psychiatric comorbidity, patients with oral dysesthesia apply to non-psychiatric branches, especially dental clinics, and possible psychiatric diagnoses may be skipped. This can cause symptoms to become chronic. In this regard, patients with oral dysesthesia and their complaints also need to be handled psychiatricly.