I have been contributing to the BMS Support website for many years now, and I am seeing the beginning of a pattern in the research, studies, and conclusions of the scientific community over time. Does it definitively identify a cause or diagnostic tool for BMS?

No.

What it does do, however, is to suggest that our chronic pain may not be unique in where it originates.

We know there are structural physical changes that are detectable in the taste buds of BMS sufferers. We know that our saliva shows some changes, as well. We know that the hallmark of primary BMS is the lack of lesions, sores, geographic tongue, or any other visible features and that’s where it gets very frustrating. How do we tell our doctors that we are in pain when they see no evidence of it? How do we ask for medicines or treatments that may ease our symptoms? How do we explain to them in their language (medicalese?) that this is not an unknown malady and that no matter how limited, there are researchers out there who are looking at the linkages between unseeable inflammation of nerves and its effects on chronic pain?

It’s tough, but the BMS Support website is there to help you educate your health professionals. Links to the latest studies, abstracts, and reviews are there for them to peruse and we all can learn together.

Take a minute and click around on a site that volunteers have made and paid for to help you. If you know of studies or research that is not listed there (Please check!) just let us know! Dennis Sharpe puts in his own funds and many hours to make this resource for all of us and he can always use your help to find new information to share.

Burning Mouth doesn’t have a foundation to help fund research and no celebrity spokespeople to raise awareness. We have to make our own resources and be of support to each other on this burning journey.

Wishing you luck, and see you down the road…