Anxiety, depression, and pain in burning mouth syndrome: first chicken or egg?

Background: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is an idiopathic and chronic pain condition for which patients may experience high levels of pain, anxiety, and depression. So far, it has not yet been well investigated whether specific psychiatric features (anxious traits, personality disorder, or somatization) may play a role in the BMS pathogenesis or whether some BMS symptoms, or BMS itself, may cause secondary psychiatric symptoms.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between pain, depression, and anxiety in BMS and healthy patients in order to hypothesize a possible underlying pathogenetic model.