Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) has been considered an enigmatic condition because the intensity of pain rarely corresponds to the clinical signs of the disease. As a result, BMS patients have variously been labelled as depressed, anxious or hypochondriacal and have often been underserviced by the medical and dental communities. Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest in this disorder with the discovery that the pain of BMS may be neuropathic in origin and originate both centrally and peripherally. This chapter discusses some of our recent understandings of the etiology and pathogenesis of BMS as well as the role of pharmacotherapeutic management in this disorder.

BMS patients have statistically significant decreased unstimulated salivary flow rate with non-statistically significant decreased stimulated flow rate. Salivary flow rates in BMS patients are decreased further by medication usage whose side effects include dry mouth. This suggests that hyposalivation may play a role in causing dry mouth in BMS, which may respond to treatment with a sialogogue.

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