Burning Mouth Syndrome

Principal Symptoms

Burning mouth syndrome is a persistent, often painful sensation, or soreness. The central part, or back of your mouth can be affected, along with your tongue, gums, the inside of your cheeks, or throat.

Your mouth can also feel dry, or might hold a bitter, or metallic taste. Symptoms could go beyond the mouth if they continue for a sustained period, including sleeplessness, irritability, or depression.

The consistency of symptoms varies from case to case, Discomfort can be minor when you awake but become worse as the day progresses, or could begin immediately and last all day, or come and go to a degree.

Burning mouth syndrome can arise in men, or women and at a variety of ages. Women are still more likely to be affected, often during or after the menopause.

Personal Diagnosis

As with the variation we see in symptoms and the duration of discomfort, there is no absolute, single cause for burning mouth syndrome.

The condition can be related to diabetes, blood disorders, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal changes, infections, physical, or psychological causes.

This is the reason you should see a maxillofacial specialist and why they examine a wide range of possibilities. Along with talking to you, discussing medical history, individual factors, how you feel and how life is affected.

Straightforward causes can often soon be identified, from medication, to infection, to dietary factors, or dental hygiene products. In a fair number of cases, further investigation could be needed.

Identifying allergies is one route to consider. Blood tests are also likely to help, to detect causes mentioned earlier and others, such as abnormal thyroid function.

Dedicated Treatment

Nobody should ever give you a guarantee that burning mouth syndrome will be cured. The condition can have both psychological cause and effect, or be related to parts of the central nervous system we don’t fully understand.

Maxillofacial surgeons are however experienced in treating the tissues of your face and mouth. Their understanding of your symptoms can bring diagnosis and treatment.

Even if missed previously, causes can be found, such as a wrongly fitting denture, unsuitable dental work, a traceable infection, even the wrong mouthwash.

The same applies to a range of underlying conditions, which when treated relieve the further problem they are causing. This could be an unrecognised serious issue, or simply a vitamin, or mineral deficiency.

As with other neurological conditions bringing facial pain, long term, low dosage of anti depressant medication can help. Moderate dose anti convulsant medicines may suit in a few cases.

We recognise the discomfort and distress burning mouth syndrome can bring. The team at our London clinic are here to find the most effective treatment for you.