1996 Volume 42 Issue 3 Pages 223-227
Glossal pain without any objective findings in the tongue is defined as glossodynia. We investigated the serum iron, serum zinc, oral candida, psychological elements and the function of the salivary glands in such patients with glossodynia. As a result, the serum iron level was low in 48% of such patients, the serum zinc level was low in 16%, the number of candida was more than one plus in 21%, the function of the salivary glands was low in 62%, and the CMI test was type III or IV in 39% of the patients. Based on these findings, we thus considered glossodynia to be concerned with a combination of such factors as a low serum iron level, a low function of the salivary glands, psychological elements and the presence of oral candidiasis. We performed a stellate ganglion block on such patients with glossodynia and this treatment was found to be effective in 84% of them. The block of the sympathetic nerve may thus have improved the blood flow to the tongue with local anemia while also increasing the total volume of the saliva in patients with a low salivary gland function.
