Etiology of the oral burning pain and its relationship to sex, age and anatomical sites (Clinical study among a sample of Iraqi patients in Baghdad)

Abstract

Background: The studies about oral burning pain are few in Iraq in spite of this disease is a significant commonamong numbers of Iraqi patients, so more information were required in order to avoid its effect and occurrence. Theaim of the current study is to determine the actual causes for the disease by examining a sample of Iraqi patients inBaghdad, in order to evaluate its relationship to the age, sex and the anatomical sites.Subjects and methods: Sixty patients were selected from two hospitals, several specialized dental clinics and publicmedical clinic, in east of Baghdad (Sadder, Jamella and Baladeyate cities). Nineteen patients were excludedbecause they could not continue in this study. The remaining forty one patients, 23 female patients, their agesranged between 25 – 60 years, while the male patients were 18, their ages ranged between 20 – 60 years. Theduration of symptoms of burning inside the oral cavity ranged from 6 months to 3 years . Each patient in this studywas examined clinically to detect any oral lesion may have direct cause for the disease , also patients were askedabout the types of drugs intake , in addition to their psychological conditions . The medical and dental histories weretaken from all examined patients, also all medical and dental reports of the patients were determined. Few results ofdifferent investigations of the examined patients were replaced by new ones, and the others were taken inconsideration for obtaining results for this study. Fasting blood sugar, thyroid function test, histopathologicalexamination and others were examples for such investigations which had been done. The most important finding inthis current study that the cause of oral burning pain in the examined Iraqi sample was mainly multi factorial causesand a few cases were caused by single etiology.Results: This study revealed that the most common causes of the oral burning pain in this Iraqi sample was , hormonalchanges , bad psychological conditions , the side effects of some drugs intake , chronic gastritis in addition to otherfactors. The most anatomical site affected inside the oral cavity was the dorsal portion of the tongue.Conclusion: One conclusion for the current study in some examined cases was found that a hiding cause may play arole in oral burning pain occurrence beside other factors. This study appeared that female patients over 50 yearswere more susceptible to this disease than male patients; also older age groups for both sexes were mostly affected