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 EN

Background : The studies about oral burning pain are few in Iraq in spite of this disease is a significant common among numbers of Iraqi patients, so more information were required in order to avoid its effect and occurrence.

The aim of the current study is to determine the actual causes for the disease by examining a sample of Iraqi patients in Baghdad, 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 public medical clinic, in east of Baghdad (Sadder, Jamella and Baladeyate cities).

Nineteen patients were excluded because they could not continue in this study.

The remaining forty one patients, 23 female patients, their ages ranged between 25 – 60 years, while the male patients were 18, their ages ranged between 20 – 60 years.

The duration of symptoms of burning inside the oral cavity ranged from 6 months to 3 years.

Each patient in this study was examined clinically to detect any oral lesion may have direct cause for the disease, also patients were asked about the types of drugs intake , in addition to their psychological conditions.

The medical and dental histories were taken from all examined patients, also all medical and dental reports of the patients were determined.

Few results of different investigations of the examined patients were replaced by new ones, and the others were taken in consideration for obtaining results for this study.

Fasting blood sugar, thyroid function test, histopathological examination and others were examples for such investigations which had been done.

The most important finding in this current study that the cause of oral burning pain in the examined Iraqi sample was mainly multi factorial causes and 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, hormonal changes , bad psychological conditions , the side effects of some drugs intake, chronic gastritis in addition to other factors.

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 a role in oral burning pain occurrence beside other factors.

This study appeared that female patients over 50 years were more susceptible to this disease than male patients ; also older age groups for both sexes were mostly affected.