Abstract
Burning mouth syndrome （BMS） is a painful syndrome characterized by continuous burning sensation of the oral mucosa; it is one of the causes of non-odontogenic sharp pain.
In European countries, it has been reported that local and systemic administration of clonazepam alleviates the burning sensation in the oral cavity. However, no study on clonazepam use in BMS patients has been conducted in this country. Nine patients with BMS presented with burning sensation in the oral cavity in the Dentistry and Oral surgery, Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa General Hospital, between April 2010 and March 2013. We initiated treatment with systemic administration of clonazepam and examined the response rate for these patients. In addition, we performed clinical evaluation for determining the appropriate dose and time to recovery following clonazepam administration.
All patients were women, with an average age of 72.3 years. The main site of pain was the tongue. The initial dosage of clonazepam was 0.5mg, and an effect was observed in six cases in two weeks. The dosage was modified in the remaining three cases, following which an effect was observed within six weeks. Hence, a complete response was obtained in all nine cases. This study suggested that a low dosage of clonazepam administered systemically could be expected to provide relief in BMS patients.
