Clinical characterization of gingival type of burning mouth syndrome: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of localized intraoral neuropathic pain in a cluster of patients who reported the involvement of gingival site as only clinical manifestation of dysesthesia, analysing type and distribution of symptoms. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) patients were enrolled in the study. Patients were screened through laboratory test and a conventional oral examination with periodontal chart. A questionnaire to collect data on symptoms, oral site involved, quality of sleep, anxiety was submitted to all the patients. RESULTS: A total of 236 patients were recruited. Seventy-six patients (32.2%) presented generalized type, whereas 160 (67.8%) had localized type. In the localized BMS group, the gingiva was involved in 70 patients and in 33 of these it was the only site involved. In the gingival subgroup, 35 patients reported burning, 29 pain and 24 xerostomia. CONCLUSIONS: To best our knowledge, this study is the first that analyses gingival involvement as the only site in BMS and it could encourage further investigations to understand the etiopathogenesis of gingival BMS. Key words:BMS, orofacial chronic pain, gingival BMS, localized BMS, localized neuropathic pain.