Burning tongue
| Classification according to ICD-10 | |
|---|---|
| K14.6 | Glossodynia burning tongue |
| ICD-10 online (WHO version 2019) | |
Burning tongue and mouth mucous membrane (glossodynia, burning-mouth syndrome, BMS) is a symptom in the form of chronic paresthesia, pain and burning sensation in the tongue or mouth mucous membranes. Common causes are mechanical stresses caused by tongue pressing or tongue rubbing on the edges of teeth or poorly fitting dentures or automatic tongue mechanisms such as sucking or pressing. Compared to these behavioral symptoms, burning tongue can also be a sign of local or general illnesses as well as a consequence of side effects of medication. Neurological and psychological causes are also often suspected.
Symptoms
Burning of the tongue is most common on the tip of the tongue or on the side of the tongue. The symptoms usually increase during the day. Improvement usually occurs while eating. Bad taste sensations and dry mouth are common accompanying symptoms.
Epidemiology
The prevalence of the disease is given in the literature with an average of 5%. The proportion of female patients clearly predominates. Burning tongue typically only begins after the age of 40.
diagnosis
Burning tongue and mouth mucous membrane is considered a diagnosis of exclusion and can indicate local pathological processes, systematic diseases, as well as side effects to drugs. It can be a symptom of the following diseases or occur together with these diseases:
- Reaction to dentures or dental caries, ill-fitting dentures
- Infections by Candida albicans or herpes simplex virus
- Salivary gland disorders with dry mouth , Sjogren's syndrome
- Gastric acid reflux
- Side effect of drugs such as ACE inhibitors or tricyclic antidepressants
- Side effect of radiation treatment for head and neck cancer
- Deficiencies such as vitamin B 12 , nicotinamide and folic acid deficiency, iron deficiency (see celiac disease or Möller-Hunter glossitis )
- Metabolic diseases such as hypothyroidism or cirrhosis of the liver
- Hormonal imbalances, especially lack of estrogen
- psychological causes such as depression , carcinophobia
treatment
Treatment depends on the causes.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy , possibly psychotherapeutic examination
- Dental restoration
- Drug treatment with alpha- lipoic acid or local treatment with the anti- epilepsy drug clonazepam (leave the tablet in the mouth for three minutes and then spit it out)
- Antidepressants
- Hormone replacement after menopause
The success of drug treatments is not always certain. Untargeted attempts at treatment with mouthwash solutions should be avoided.
It is still unknown whether there is a relationship to the " orofacial pain syndrome ". One indication, however, is that in the case of "atypical trigeminal neuralgia " in the tooth-mouth-jaw area, antiepileptic drugs such as eg. B. Carbamazepine are used. The fact that substances that intervene in the central nervous system bring about a decisive improvement in jaw pain indicates that, for unknown reasons, the conduction of excitation in the affected patient is disturbed. To this day, however, it is not even clear whether this happens centrally and peripherally.
literature
- F. Waldfahrer: Burning of the mouth and tongue. Current aspects of the burning mouth syndrome. In: Iro Biesinger (Ed.): ENT practice today. Volume 24. Springer Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-540-20029-0 .
- Helbig: Article in the journal Hautnah Dermatologie 2006 (PDF file; 81 kB)
- Articles with a guidebook character at tellmed.ch
