Analgesic effect of gum chewing in patients with burning mouth syndrome

Abstract

The cause of burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is unknown.Although no effective treatment has been established, BMS patients frequently chew gum to alleviate pain. To identify the cause and new treatments for BMS, this study investigated the psychophysical and pharmacological properties of gum chewing to better understand its pain-relieving effects. In this prospective, blinded study, plasma catecholamine and serotonin levels and Profile of Mood States (POMS) scores were assessed after gum chewing or simulated chewing in 40 women (20 BMS patients and 20 agematched controls). Visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for pain decreased significantly in BMS patients after gum chewing and simulated chewing. Moreover, resting VAS scores of BMS patients were significantly positively correlated with plasma adrenaline level. Furthermore, gum chewing was significantly correlated with lower plasma adrenaline level, VAS score, and tension-anxiety score. These results suggest that adrenaline is important in the pathogenesis of BMS pain and that the analgesic effect of gum chewing is induced through the potential effects of anxiety reduction, although this effect might not be specific to BMS. In addition, the analgesic effect of gum chewing was not induced solely by chewing motion.

Duloxetine improves chronic orofacial pain and comorbid depressive symptoms in association with reduction of serotonin transporter protein through upregulation of ubiquitinated serotonin transporter protein

“…Regardless of comorbid depressive symptoms, however, plasma serotonin concentrations before DLX treatment in COP-ND and COP-D patients did not differ compared with healthy controls (Supplementary Table 1, available at http://links.lww.com/PAIN/B962), which was consistent with the results in a previous study. 64 Serotonin transporter activity in the platelet membrane is enhanced by elevated plasma serotonin concentrations 42 and then attenuated, suggesting that the compensatory mechanism of SERT capacity in platelet membrane regulates plasma serotonin concentrations. Thus, plasma serotonin concentrations may be not decreased despite the upregulation of total SERT protein in COP-ND and COP-D patients before DLX treatment.…”

Efecto del estrés agudo y de la variación del estímulo masticatorio sobre el dolor nociceptivo somático en un modelo murino

“…Así, se ha encontrado que el comportamiento rítmico de la masticación activa neuronas serotoninérgicas lo que mejora la acción de la vía moduladora descendente (17) . Diversos estudios han demostrado que la masticación mejora la respuesta anti nociceptiva tanto en individuos sanos como enfermos (18)(19)(20) ; además de reducir la respuesta a diversos marcadores relacionados con el estrés, como el factor de liberación de corticotropina en el hipotálamo (CRF), el proto-oncogén C-fos y la quinasa forforilada regulada por señal extracelular (pERK) (21,22) .…”