BURNING MOUTH SYNDROME: PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF SOUTHERN BRAZIL INDIVIDUALS SÍNDROME DA ARDÊNCIA BUCAL: ASPECTOS PSICOLÓGICOS DAS PESSOAS DO SUL DO BRASIL

Resumen

To investigate, by the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20), recommended by the World Health Organization
(WHO), the possible influence of emotional overload and minor psychiatric disorders in patients with Burning
Mouth Syndrome (BMS). Forty patients with BMS were evaluated, both genders, selected from the data bank
of the Center for Diagnosis of Diseases of the Mouth, School of Dentistry, Federal University of Pelotas
(Brazil). The instrument Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20) was used in this study to detect minor psychiatric
disorders and emotional overload in general population. Besides the SRQ-20 questionnaire, it also was applied
an attachment composed by 8 closed questions to evaluate the stressing events lived by the patients in the last
12 months and the emotional overload suffered by them. The chi-square test, t-test were used for mono
factor analysis. A probability of p ? 0.05 was accepted as significant. Data were processed in SPSS version
14.0.1 for Windows. Women with average age of 61 years old were most affected. Approximately 90% of
patients declared to feel nervous, tense and worried daily. From these, 67,5% related the beginning of BMS or
its exacerbation with stress. The results suggest that depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress are factors that
can be associated to BMS etiology. However, controlled studies are necessary to confirm these results.