Therapeutic methods for burning mouth syndrome: an overview

Objective To perform an overview of available systematic reviews (SR) on therapeutic methods used to alleviate Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) symptomatology. Study Design The study was conducted following the PRISMA and is registered with PROSPERO under number (CRD42021268587). The databases searched were PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science. The PICO question was "For the relief of symptomatology, discomfort, and burning sensation caused by BMS, what is the best strategy?". 212 articles were retrieved, 113 studies were evaluated for inclusion, and eight SR were included. The quality of SR was analyzed through the evaluation of SR in dentistry (Glenny Scale) and the Assessment of the Methodological Quality of SR (AMSTAR2). Results The most indicated pharmacological measure was clonazepam with short- and long-term effects on symptomatology relief. However, a standardized BMS treatment protocol is not described in the literature. According to Glenny scale, the studies had moderate to high quality, but according to AMSTAR 2, only two studies showed a high-quality level, while the others were classified as critically low. Conclusion The use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures reduces the symptomatology of BMS, but new randomized clinical trials are suggested to investigate treatment protocols for BMS. To perform an overview of available systematic reviews (SR) on therapeutic methods used to alleviate Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) symptomatology. The study was conducted following the PRISMA and is registered with PROSPERO under number (CRD42021268587). The databases searched were PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science. The PICO question was "For the relief of symptomatology, discomfort, and burning sensation caused by BMS, what is the best strategy?". 212 articles were retrieved, 113 studies were evaluated for inclusion, and eight SR were included. The quality of SR was analyzed through the evaluation of SR in dentistry (Glenny Scale) and the Assessment of the Methodological Quality of SR (AMSTAR2). The most indicated pharmacological measure was clonazepam with short- and long-term effects on symptomatology relief. However, a standardized BMS treatment protocol is not described in the literature. According to Glenny scale, the studies had moderate to high quality, but according to AMSTAR 2, only two studies showed a high-quality level, while the others were classified as critically low. The use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures reduces the symptomatology of BMS, but new randomized clinical trials are suggested to investigate treatment protocols for BMS.