Abstract
BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to determine the most effective treatment option for burning mouth syndrome. METHODS: Informative treatment alone, B vitamin injections, oral cavity probiotics, and low-level laser therapy were evaluated and compared. The study included new patients diagnosed with burning mouth syndrome, who were randomly allocated into one of four treatment groups. The primary outcome was improvement in patient's quality of life as determined by a self-perceived Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) quality of life questionnaire before and after therapy. The secondary outcome was determination of mucosal symptom intensity according to visual analog scale (VAS) grading from 0 to 10. Data were submitted to statistical analysis. RESULTS: A total of 62 patients completed the study. Oral cavity probiotics and LLLT scores for OHIP-14 resulted in a statistically significant difference before and after therapy. Standardized effect sizes between OHIP scores before and after treatment were the greatest for patients who had received oral cavity probiotics. CONCLUSIONS: Oral cavity probiotics and LLLT were the most effective treatment for improvement in quality of life. Further investigation on a larger group of patients is required.