Oral burning sensation: prevalence and gender differences in a Japanese population.
BACKGROUND
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by an oral burning sensation (OBS) in the tongue or other oral mucous membrane in the absence of any clinical abnormal findings. It frequently affects middle-aged and aged women. Although there are many oral disorders with OBS besides BMS, the prevalence of OBS is unclear.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of OBS and analyze the gender differences in a Japanese population.


METHODS
The study subjects were 2599 dental patients in two dental offices in Tokyo, Japan. The prevalence of OBS was investigated using a questionnaire.


RESULTS
The mean ages of the subjects were 42.7 +/- 13.8 (mean +/- SD) years of age in male and 40.1 +/- 15.4 (mean +/- SD) years of age in female. The prevalence of OBS "at present" was 2.8% of 1310 male subjects and 3.2% of 1289 female subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between them for each decade. The prevalence including "at present" and "in the past" were 9.3% in male subjects and 10.8% in female subjects; this difference was not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings fail to demonstrate a female predilection for OBS.
Nishibori Dental Office and Toyoda Dental Office, Tokyo, Japan. psn.suzuki@gmail.com
Nagaaki
N
Suzuki
Shigenari
S
Mashu
Masamoto
M
Toyoda
Masakazu
M
Nishibori
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002054:Burning Mouth Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult