Burning Mouth Syndrome in Zahedan; the Southeast of Islamic Republic of Iran

Statement of problem: burning mouth syndrome (bms) is characterized by a burning sensation in the tongue or other oral sites, usually in the absence of clinical and laboratory findings. purpose: the aim of this study was to evaluate the main epidemiological and clinical features involved in burning mouth syndrome in zahedan; southeast of iran. materials and methods: in this case series study, 89 bms patients were selected from those referred to the department of the oral medicine, faculty of dentistry, and khatam-ol-anbia, central hospital, zahedan university of medical sciences, during 2002 to 2003. the study group consisted of 62 female (69.7%) and 27 male (30.3 %) patients, with a mean age of 60.9 years, ranging from 40 to 89 years. in all cases a study protocol, specially designed for this disease was completed, including general, medical and oral information and an intraoral examination. comparative and descriptive statistical analysis was performed. the chi-square test was considered significant at p< 0.05. results: the 50-59 years age group showed the highest prevalence among the studied cases (24.3%). the tongue was the most frequent location of symptoms, affected in 86 patients (96.6%). in addition to the burning sensation, 25.8% and 48.3% of the patients complained of oral dryness and dysgusia, respectively. type iii bms was the most common subtype (50.6%). in women, 90.3% were postmenopausal. type ii diabetes was observed in 36% of the patients and 37.1% suffered from respiratory disease, 23.6% from gastritis, 15.7% from liver diseases, 30.3% from renal disease, 40.4% from hypertension and 43.8% had sleep disorders. also, 52.8% revealed seasonal allergy, 32.6% had temporomandibular joint disorders and 59.6% had poor oral hygiene. conclusion: bms is a complex and multifactorial disease process in which numerous possible etiologies must be eliminated before the proper treatment can be initiated.