What is "burning mouth syndrome"

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Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is the complaint of a burning sensation in the mouth where no underlying dental or medical cause can be identified and no signs found in the mouth. Burning mouth syndrome may also comprise subjective xerostomia (a dry mouth sensation where no cause can be found such as reduced salivary flow), oral paraesthesia (e.g. tingling) and altered taste or smell ( dysgeusia and dysosmia).

A burning sensation in the mouth can be a symptom of another disease when local or systemic factors are found to be implicated, and this is not considered to be burning mouth syndrome, which is a syndrome of medically unexplained symptoms. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines burning mouth syndrome as "a distinctive nosological entity characterized by unremitting oral burning or similar pain in the absence of detectable mucosal changes", and "burning pain in the tongue or other oral mucous membranes", and the International Headache Society defines it as "an intra-oral burning sensation for which no medical or dental cause can be found".