Objectives: The aim was to review unspecific symptoms of the mouth.

Methods: Critical literature search was used for the review.

Results: Of menopause age women, 10% report burning mouth. Of type 2 diabetic patients, 20% report the symptom. The sensation is commonly absent in the morning, presents by course of the day, and is not linked with any objective sign in the mouth. Psychosomatic and neurological disorders have been suggested to lay behind the bymptom but the aetiology is generally unknown. Hyposalivation is often linked with burning mouth. For example, 80% of over 80-year-old elderly were reported to suffer from xerostomia and many of them of burning mouth. In addition to menopause and diabetes, candidosis, reflux disease, hypothyreosis and depression dhould be excluded when setting the diagnosis. Therapy calls for treatment of the cause if evident but, unfortunately, in the majority of cases only alleviating treatment is possible. If dry mouth is the presenting symptom then 5 mg tablets of pilocarpine can be recommended if not contraindicated due to medical reasons. Halitosis is usually linked with poor periodontal health. Periodontal pathogens, such as P. gingivalis, T.forsythensis, T. denticola, P. intermedia and Veillonella sp., should be analysed. The human nose detects 1.5 ng/10 ml air of inorganic and 0.5 ng/10ml of air organic sulphur compounds. The concentration of these in the mouth can be manifold. Diagnosis and treatment of halitosis mainly calls for eradication of the niches of periodontopathogens.

Conclusions: Possibly underlying general diseases of the unspecific symptoms of the mouth must not be forgotten and the patient must often be referred for medical examination.

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