Burning mouth disorder (bmd) and taste : a hypothesis

Background: Burning mouth disorder (BMD) is a burning or stinging sensation affecting the oral mucosa, lips, and/ or tongue, in the absence of clinically visible mucosal lesions. There is a strong female predilection, with the age of onset being approximately 50 years. The causes of BMD are multifactorial and remain poorly understood. Often BMD patients report, in association, change in taste. In this regards, it is relevant that in central nervous system connections exist between taste and oral pain and that taste normally inhibits oral pain. Aim: The working hypothesis of this study considers a possible relationship between burning mouth disorders and alterations of taste. Several conditions or pathologies can be responsible of taste disturbances that might be the cause of oral pain in BMD patients. Subjects and methods: We have analyzed, retrospectively, 142 cases of BMD with associated taste disturbance. Possible causes that could be responsible for alterations of taste were investigated. Results and conclusions: Sixty-one subjects revealed the habitual use of drugs having a documented interference with taste perception. Thirty-five subjects, among the 81 patients who had no associated pathology or habitual use of drugs, noticed in their clinical history conditions, pathologies or use of drugs that are known to affect the gustatory system. Therefore, we propose that BMD may represent an oral phantom pain induced in susceptible individuals by alteration of taste.