Association between burning mouth syndrome and hyposalivation

Abstract

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by a burning sen- sation in the oral cavity, although the oral mucosa is clinically nor- mal. Despite the studies alrea- dy conducted, the etiology of this condition remains unclear. The aim of this work was to investiga- te the association between BMS and hyposalivation. The sample was composed by 100 women with ages between 30 and 81 distribu- ted into two groups: a) case group: 50 women with BMS attended at Department of Stomatology at Hospital São Lucas – PUCRS; b) control group: 50 women without BMS. The mechanical stimulated salivary flow rates of the indivi- duals were recorded using the gravimetric method. The results were analyzed through descriptive statistics and Student t test, with significance level of 5%. The me- dian flow rate observed in the case group was 0.86 mL/min (+0.65), whereas, for the control group, it was 1.01 mL/min(+0.65). There was no statistically significant di- fference of flow rate between the groups analyzed (p>0.05). Based on results, it was concluded that there is no association between BMS and hyposalivation. Key words: xerostomia, mouth, burning, hyposalivation.