Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) occurs mainly in postmenopausal women. In this study, the relationship between BMS and aging was investigated. Sixty-four female patients with BMS, who visited the Department of Oral Surgery, Nagoya University School of Medicine, were divided into four age groups; under 41 years old (per-climacteric group), from 42 to 56 (climacteric group), from 57 to 64 (intermediate group) and over 65 (elderly group). Accompanying systemic diseases, medications, frequency of items which were expected to induce BMS and efficacy of treatments were investigated in each group.
The following results were obtained.
1) In elderly patients with BMS, possible incidences such as psychosomatic factors (anxiety and depression), cancerphobia, dry mouth and dental problems were observed frequently.
2) On the other hand, in the climacteric group, those factors which might relate to BMS were not common and in most patients it was difficult to determine the cause of BMS.
3) Although BMS in elderly seemed to be a complex type caused by accumulating incidences, the effective treatment was possible by identifying possible causes in each patient, which allow the selection of adequate treatment procedure.

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