Journal of oral pathology & medicine : official publication of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and the American Academy of Oral Pathology
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J. Oral Pathol. Med. · Feb 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialSystemic capsaicin for burning mouth syndrome: short-term results of a pilot study.
Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a major diagnostic and therapeutic problem. Systemic and topical treatments (capsaicin, lidocaine, anti-histamines, sucralfate and benzydiamine) have been tried, but they appear to be inadequate. Topical capsaicin is bitter, may cause burning and has low therapeutic efficacy. We hypothesized that systemic administration of capsaicin could reduce the limitations of topical administration and have better therapeutic efficacy; this hypothesis was tested in a controlled trial. ⋯ Systemic capsaicin is therapeutically effective for the short-term treatment of BMS but major gastrointestinal side-effects may threaten its large-scale, long-term use. This preliminary study suggests that more, adequately powered, randomized controlled trials are necessary and worthy to come to a definitive assessment of this matter.