Do you know it too: burning tongue or burning mouth? It’s an annoying symptom that occurs mostly in women between the ages of 45 and 50, but it’s also common in the over-60 age group. The discomfort manifests itself as a burning, sore feeling, sometimes associated with tingling or itching. They can increase to stabbing pain and are often also associated with disturbances in taste and salivation.
Symptoms of burning mouth syndrome
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) causes unpleasant discomfort in sufferers. These not infrequently begin in the morning and intensify throughout the day. Such discomfort may occur as an accompanying symptom of general illness or even changes in the oral mucosa.
- In this case, the “burning sensation” (burning mouth syndrome) is usually felt in the front two-thirds of the tongue, in the front part of the hard palate and in the lower lips.
- Two-thirds of BMS patients about also complain of dry mouth.
- Rarely, the gums, the floor of the mouth and the soft palate are also affected.
Burning mouth syndrome: causes and diagnosis.
For the dentist, the diagnosis of a Burning Mouth Syndrome is a real challenge, because the clinical picture is multifactorial, with many causes not only in the dental field, but also many other causes in the background. For example, burning mouth syndrome is often accompanied by psychological disorders (anxiety, depression), type II diabetes, anemia (anemia / vitamin B-12 deficiency), and other nutritional deficiencies (iron deficiency, folic acid deficiency), as well as possibly oral dysfunctions such as tongue clenching.
This means that diagnosis and therapy are not purely dental tasks, but the clarification of the clinical picture can almost always only be solved in an interdisciplinary manner in cooperation with dentists, internists, gynecologists, ear, nose and throat specialists as well as psychologists and psychosomatics.
In the dental field, in addition to the previously mentioned dysfunctions, causes originating directly from the teeth, such as intolerance to dental materials used or denture intolerance, can also play a role. Climacteric factors can possibly intensify these moments of irritation. It is not uncommon, particularly in the case of dysfunctions, for stress, tension, suffering and grief to be in the background and lead to, for example, constant nervous “playing” with the tongue on the denture, as the DGZMK explains. It is typical that there are usually no pathological findings in the mouth and also laboratory values (blood sampling) show no abnormal changes.
Tongue diagnosis: This means spots, coatings and Co.
Burning mouth syndrome as a constant burden
In many cases, patients report that they have usually undergone several unsuccessful treatments by doctors from various specialties and that their suffering has been going on for a long time. “The daily presence of this burning sensation in varying degrees of intensity and the often long history of the disease often make patients helpless, so that they can no longer grasp any other thought. The burning sensation is permanently present, especially during the day, and seemingly unavoidable.
It often controls behavior in everyday life, at work and in leisure time, paralyzes activities and possibly leads to a complete withdrawal from the social environment,” as Professor Dr. Gerhard Wahl, Director of the Polyclinic for Surgical Dentistry, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of Bonn, still adds to the serious effects of BMS.
