Study of Risk Factors for the Burning Mouth Syndrome in Patients Visiting the Khyber College of Dentistry Peshawar KPK: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe the overall prevalence of BMS in both genders, the Covariants or risk factors directly or indirectly associated with BMS, in patients visiting the Khyber College of Dentistry Peshawar KPK. METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was carried out on patients visiting the Department of Oral Medicine, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar KPK, for examination and diagnosis of chronically suffering pain in the oral cavity from January 2018 to January 2019. Patients were thoroughly evaluated for Burning Mouth Syndrome. Non-probability convenient sampling technique was used with a calculated sample size of 119 patients with the anticipated proportion of 0.09 and a 95% confidence interval. The age was divided into five-decade age sub-groups (20-30 years, 31-40 years, 41- 50 years, 51-60 years, and above 61 years). RESULTS: The male-to-female ratio was found to be 2.75:1.67. The mean age group recorded was 51±8 years. The most common age group that presented with this discomfort was 51-60 years (45.37%). The nature of the pain associated with BMS was described as a burning sensation or discomfort in the majority of the patients (108, 90.75%). The frequency of the pain was in a continuous pattern (77, 64.70%). The common local factor found to be more associated with BMS in both genders was fissured tongue followed by xerostomia. The relation was significant between local factors and BMS with a p-value of 0.01. The most common systemic illness in males was diabetes, while most females were post-menopause. Psychologically females were more stressed (24, 20.16%) than males (13, 10.92%). The association of the psychological elements with BMS also carried a significant relationship (P=0.02) CONCLUSION: The predominant age group for the presentation of the BMS in both genders was 51-60 years and the local and systemic risk factors were found to have a statistically significant relationship with the BMS. Among females, the most common local factor was candidiasis followed by xerostomia. More than one local factor was found to be involved in the genesis of BMS. The systemic factor was also found to have a significant relationship with BMS. KEYWORDS: Burning Mouth Syndrome, Xerostomia, Fissured tongue, Anemia, Diabetes