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Background and Objectives: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a state in which a patient experiences intraoral burning or a dysesthetic sensation without clinically evident causative lesions in the oropharyngeal area. The disorder is linked to a variety of conditions, including dry mouth, Candida , and bacterial infections. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of oral Candida and/or bacterial infections among patients with BMS and whether they have an effect on pain/burning and salivary flow levels. Objectives: (1) Gather patient data regarding the presence of oral infections, dry mouth, and pain levels in the morning, afternoon, and evening periods; (2) data analysis and assessment to determine medians, means, frequencies, correlations, and statistically significant differences between patient groups. Materials and Methods : Overall, 173 patients (23 males and 150 females) with BMS and 13 controls (five males and eight females) took part in the study. We measured pain/burning levels, unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow, the percentage of patients infected with Candida species and/or bacterial species, and the said species growth in Petri dishes. Results : Candida albicans was the most commonly found infection among patients with BMS ( n = 28, 16.2%). Overall, 21.4% patients with BMS were diagnosed with either C. albicans or another Candida species. Enterobacter had the richest growth among patients with BMS (7.5% out of the infected 10.4% BMS patients). No statistical significance could be noted between the existence of either Candida species or bacterial species infections and changes in pain/burning and salivary flow levels. Negative correlations were noted between age and unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow, and positive correlations were noted between age and Candida andspecific bacteria species' growth levels. Conclusions : Although patients with present bacterial or Candida infections showed a marginal increase in pain/burning levels, no direct statistically significant associations could be made between the presence of Candida species or other bacteria and the symptoms among patients with BMS.

Background and Objectives : Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is an enigmatic, idiopathic, chronic, often painful clinical entity, where patients experience oral burning without clear clinical changes on the oral mucosa. There are yet to be well established standardized and validated definitions, diagnostic criteria or classifications for burning mouth syndrome. The aim of this study is to determine whether vitamin B complex and zinc supplements or 0.02% topical capsaicin rinse, can help alleviate BMS pain/burning levels. The objectives: (1) Gather data before and after treatment with vitamin B complex and zinc supplements (2) After the vitamin B complex and zinc protocol gather data before and after treatment with 0.02% topical capsaicin rinse (3) Data analysis and assessment for both treatment methods. Materials and Methods : 89 patients took part in the vitamin B and zinc supplement treatment regimen, out of those 20 patients took part in the capsaicin rinse treatment regimen. Before and after each treatment pain/burning levels were determined using the Visual analogue scale, salivary flow was also determined. Results : Both treatment methods showed statistically significant data in reducing pain/burning levels. There were no statistically significant changes in the salivary flow after any treatment. Conclusion : vitamin B and zinc supplement therapy and topical capsaicin rinse therapy can be an effective way to decrease pain/burning sensation levels in patients with BMS. More research should be conducted to determine the benefit of either vitamin B and zinc supplement therapy or topical capsaicin rinse therapy, so that BMS patients have treatment options, that have as few side-effects as possible.