Brazilian patients and oral carriage of candida species

/Home/Burning Mouth Syndrome Research

Burning mouth syndrome: clinical profile of Brazilian patients and oral carriage of candida species

Braz. Dent. J. vol.18 no.4 Ribeir„o Preto 2007
Desirée Rosa Cavalcanti; Esther Goldenberg Birman; Dante Antonio Migliari; Fernando Ricardo Xavier da Silveira
Correspondence:
Profa. Desirée Rosa Cavalcanti
Departamento de Estomatologia, Disciplina de Semiologia, Faculdade de Odontologia, Universidade de São Paulo
Avenida Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2227, Cidade Universitária, 05508-900 São Paulo, SP, Brasil
Tel/Fax: +55-11-3091-7883

Department of Oral Diagnosis, University of São Paulo, School of Dentistry, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is caractherized by a burning sensation in a normal oral mucosa and occurs particularly in postmenopausal women (1,2). The tongue is the most commonly affected site, but the burning sensation can be diffused in any area of oral mucosa, being variable in intensity and has a chronic course (3,4). Several studies indicate that BMS is fairly common, wich explains the increased attention that the condition has received in the recent literature (5). The etiology is poorly understood and considered multifactorial, being associated to different local, sistemic, psychogenic and neurologic causes (6,7). Therapy is empiric and without evidence of efficacy, leaving the condition with no recognised treatment (8,9).

Little information about the variations of BMS in the different population in the world is available, the same applies to its prevalence. The wide range of prevalence values, from 0.01 to 0.7% in general population (10) or 26% in the elderly, reflects the lack of any accurate definition (11).

The candidal infection has been investigated for some authors as a possible local associate factor, but there are few studies related to BMS microbiota and the present data were not enough conclusive to evaluate its importance as a factor in the etiology of this condition (7,11).

The aim of this study was to characterize the clinical profile of Brazilian BMS patients and to investigate the prevalence of Candida species by means of comparison to control group