... without treatment? I had a benign cyst removed from my throat 7 years ago and this triggered my burning tongue syndrome. What hell! I've been to countless dentists, ENTS, oral surgeons, GPs and NONE of them know what to do. I've had my teeth ground-down, capped and night guarded, all to no avail. This site helps me feel I'm not so alone and suffering in silence. I can't stand to think I will live with this the rest of my life. Is it possible for it to just dissappear and resolve on its own? Thanks all
Burning Mouth Syndrome - I've had BMS for seven years. Has anyone had this go away on its own?
Question posted by gonzo jen on 5 Sep 2013
Last updated on 5 May 2024
143 Answers
Hi gonzo jen …..WOW we corresponded back in 2013 maybe even before …. My BMS started maybe 2012 and so far no medical help. I still have BMS and all I can say is that it is Amitriptyline that helps … I have found NOTHING else and it’s been many many years, still continuing. IF … IF there is anyone out there who has an answer or any kind of help, PLEASE let us know … it is a terrible syndrome to live with, Amitriptyline definitely helps me keep it under control.
I am so sorry that you gonzo jen, and many others still suffer. Is there Help out there ?? Regards to all junejoan
It's been over 2 years for me. The only thing that helps the pain is little pieces of raw ginger I chew on. And some cayenne pepper. It's hard on my friends and family. Some days I just can't do anything.
Try being tested for the herpes virus. I was tested and found positive for the herpes virus (aka kissing disease) and given valacyclovir which helped immensely.
Hi, started out with COVID-19. After it was healed I had BMS. Over 2 years now. It's awful. It get worse the more I talk. I saw countless natural and typical health care. It sure has been hard on me and my family and me. Also,I have nerve issues in the head are and mouth. I hope you find help. If you do let me know. I will do the same. It is caused by a trauma they say. COVID-19 was a trauma.
I’m sorry you are going through this as i know what it feels like. I have had it 3 times now in 6 years. Every year or year in a half it comes back. When I get it it last 4 or 5 months then goes into remission for a year or so. I thought it was TMJ or Trigeminal Neuralgia? I don’t believe that’s what it is. The MRIs are not showing the doctors too much. My gums burn when I get this. Stings and burns. My doctor tried so many pills with me but nothing worked. We are trying Lyrica 75 mg. People take 600 mg but he wants to start at a low dose first. This is hell when I get this. I’m going to see a specialist who costs 500 dollars for first appointment and 375 each additional appointment. I’m in Canada and we never pay for health care so it’s very weird that I’m paying to see a doctor. She is so good that the dr is booked until 10 months. I need to ask for an emergency appointment. I can sleep no problem and when I wake up I’m fine.
As soon as I get out of bed and just do my daily routine, it starts and goes all day until I go to bed again. I really hope this specialist will see me cause I can’t do this again for 4 months. It’s the worst pain I have ever experienced cause it’s in my mouth gums but I also feel pressure in my ears and face. I probably do have TMJ that caused this problem as I do wear a night guard but the damage is done to my nerves. If this Lyrica can take some of the burning away then great. It comes out of nowhere and lasts 4 months or longer. Then when it goes into remission, I will wake up one day and it’s completely gone. Then it decides to come back again in a year or so. I really don’t understand it. Hot drinks sometimes make it feel better for 10 min then cold drinks make it feel better. I can’t take time off work cause my insurance doesn’t pay enough so I have to work. It’s terrible as you all know.
Let us know what you find out. Wish we knew something basic to use. Not drugs. It's so sad. I tried acupuncture. A holistic doc, nothing. Most help I can be is chew on small pieces of Raw ginger or try cayenne in water and swish in your mouth. You can swallow or spit it out. The cayenne is actually good for nerves.
I’m so sorry you have suffered with this for so long. I did too…for 15 years. Always searching for help from dozens of doctors and anything new on the internet. One night, I read an interesting article by a doctor in California. She said if doctors took the time to do an oral swab, they would see that BMS is a herpes derivative and VALTREX pills help take the pain away. After 15 years, I took Valtrex and in 5 days, it was GONE. FOR GOOD. I don’t know why more posts don’t talk about this. These pills literally saved my life. No more burning, rancid taste, sleepless nights etc. I pray this post helps others. If it helped me…it could help you, too. Good Luck.
VALTREX for BMS - Congratulations on Valtrex working for you, that is Fabulous! I had read 1-2 years ago about a woman with BMS who went to a Neurologist in Colorado. The Neurologist had published her case of patient with BMS that she treated with Valtrex. Fortunately, within 4-6 days, her patient was free of BMS symptoms entirely. Her BMS was caused by the virus herpes simplex per the Neurologist's own explanation in her publication. I was SO excited to read about it, I went to see an Infectious Disease Physician with the Publication in hand. He read it with me sitting there. He immediately prescribed VALTREX 500 mg. twice a day for me. I took it for 8 days and unfortunately, I had zero relief. However, the Oral Facial Pain Specialist who evaluated me in another state, told me my BMS pain was the result of damage to the Sensory Portion of 3 cranial nerves and the BMS was permanent. He did say there was a 1-2% remission rate for some.
I'm moving into my 9th year and no remission to date.
I also used Baking Soda to swish, spit and brush with for a while but started getting intense Thrush infections. When I asked a doctor why all the oral thrush was happening, I was told that the normal PH of mouth is 'acidic' (preventing thrush) and baking soda changes the ph to 'ALKALINE' which in turn is a welcoming matt for thrush. Once I stopped using baking soda, I never had another oral thrush infection. Anyway, kudos to any and all that find anything that works for their pain or Cures their BMS. I embrace anything that helps. I do think more BMS people should be tried on Valtrex as it clearly has helped others with BMS and there are medical publications that substantiate it. Best to all. K2Z
I suffer from trigeminal neuralgia and had gamma knife surgery 5 years ago to kill off the trigeminal nerve. The surgery and the neuralgia are typical triggers of BMS which started about 3 years ago and are a two of the major contributors of BMS. It started with a numbness on the lower right side of my lip, then to the tip of my tongue and now the entire soft palate and my tongue. My neurologist has told me there is no cure but through research I’ve discovered that Baking Soda and water help calm it down. Any toothpaste with tarter control aggravates it so I now only use the baking soda solution. Also, ice cream held in my mouth helps to calm it down. I only get it at night and must stay away from acidic and spicy foods. I hope this helps because I agree, this is awful!
Several people on here have recommended Dexamethasone as being very helpful with BMS. My cardiologist finally prescribed it for me but I am confused as to how to use it. Do I swallow after rinsing with it or spit? Also my druggist put on the bottle "take with food or milk". I am confused. Help.
Hi Buster... mine is a rinse only. If I'm having a flare-up, I use it several times a day. If I dare to eat blueberries or strawberries or apples (the main foods I am allergic to) I rinse immediately and often with the dexa. I would doubt they'd recommend it for swallowing. It's an anti-inflammatory so it helps keep your mouth from over-reacting, but maybe you should give your doc a call to confirm that it needs to be a rinse as it just needs to keep your mouth from over-reacting. If you are in a lot of pain, give it a few days to do its work and I hope and pray it helps you as much as it helped me. Like I said, I also had to pay attention to what foods I was eating and it took me quite awhile to i.d. them given the pain almost never showed up until a good 12-24 hours after eating the offending food. Let us know if it helps! Fingers crossed.
i’m sorry to hear food aggregates your bms. eating has always made mine go away. the very best thing i’ve found is cbd oil. i put .05 drops twice a day, plus inject b12 shots weekly and try to manage stress. the cbd tincture has given me my life back. find a strong dosage. go to your local health food store and ask the person in supplements for their recommendation for tongue phantom nerve pain. best of luck
I am sorry to share that I have had BMS for over 20 years. Sometimes it is bearable, other times it makes me crazy. I take low doses of klonopin- that helps. How do you use cbd oil on your tongue? How much? How often?
I am trying to compile a list of foods that tend to activate BMS. From personal experience, I have found red wine, anything with chocolate and tomatoes to be real killers. Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.
First of all, I cannot say enough about the oral rinse called DEXAMETHASONE. Your dentist or doctor needs to prescribe it. Using this rinse, in conjunction with avoiding foods I discovered I was allergic to, has allowed me to live without anymore flare-ups. It was difficult to associate the foods to which I had developed allergies, given the reaction doesn't become noticeable for a good 12-24 hours after eating the offending food. Here is my list of foods that I have to avoid, in order of severity and predictability of reaction: tomatoes (boo hoo, I love them!) blueberries, strawberries, (again... boo hoooo) and perhaps walnuts in that they are dry and scratchy and can rough-up my mouth. There is information online about oral allergy syndrome explaining how our systems mistake a protein in the offending food with similar proteins that are in airborn particles that cause the typical respiratory allergies. I am able to eat chocolate without any problem.
I had "burning mouth" for more than a year and it took SO long to figure out what was causing it and to find a dentist who cared enough to figure it out with/for me. I cannot say enough about the effectiveness of the DEXAMETHASONE and highly recommend it in clearing up outbreaks if you do eat the offending food and notice a reaction coming on.
I feel for all of you, besides myself who's suffering from this awful burning mouth! I've been everywhere to everyone, Johns Hopkins, oral surgeons, rheumatologists, neurologists, dentists, periodontists, and no one had really any relief for me. I chew sugarless bubble gum, drink a lot of water, take Zoloft, and was prescribed a drug for dry mouth. I rinse with ACT or Biotene, I take anxiety meds and the highlight of my night is getting so tired so I can sleep. All of this happened when I had a tooth extracted for a dental implant. That was in 2018. I do know that anxiety makes mine worse. I'm glad, too, that I have this site to go to...
Check out my answer to the post above yours, and see if your dentist or doctor will prescribe dexamethasone rinse. Avoiding tomatoes, blueberries and strawberries, along with using this rinse, pretty much saved my sanity and made my burning mouth symptoms go away completely. You may have oral allergies to different foods than I, but the rinse should help a great deal once you identify the offending foods. Best of luck to you, it's a horrible affliction.
I had a crown removed and a dental bridge done my mouth has never been the same since it’s been a daily nightmare, the dental practice said nothing to do with my treatment, but my local hospital said I had classic symptoms of BMS although they did not know much about it, he referred me to the Dental Hospital who did various tests and finally I was diagnosed with Oral Dyseathesia which is Nerve Damage which they said was caused by the placement of a dental bridge. They said No Cure and suggested CBT or Anti depressants which I was quite shocked at for a mouth problem. I’ve tried everything I can myself to no avail lastly writing to NHS England who said we’ll use your case going forward, but sorry for my condition. I have had a fresh referral from my GP to the dental hospital again I’m really clutching at straws but I hope they can help me in some way as my bridge still feels awful and my mouth too mainly my palate and tongue, sometimes numb lips and burning in cheeks, I wish I’d never had the bridge done !!
I have had BMS for about 3 yrs. At one point, I thought, I had licked it. Three months with no signs of burning (side of tongue) but it came back. This has occurred about three times with the most recent a month ago. Why the BMS goes away for a period of time and then comes back, I have no idea. I also have a horrible metallic taste in my mouth. Unless you have BMS, no one knows how awful it is. Does drinking carbonated beverages and eating chocolate tend to make it worse? Trust me, you are not suffering alone.
I've had it for 15 years and have tried everything. I hate to tell you this. But mine has only gotten worse year after year. I pray for a miracle for you.
Thank you for your concern. Hopefully a cure can be found soon for BMS sufferers
. I pray for you also. 15 years with this awful BMS has to be "hell on earth".
I just returned from seeing my ENT physician for another issue and asked him if he knew about BMS. He suggested I try Magic Mouthwash which can be a mixture of different medicines. Has anyone had luck with using this type of medication?
FYI: My health insurance carrier did not pay for it.
Yes I have tried it. Blend of lidocaine, maalox, Benadryl. It calms an outbreak but only has a numbing effect. Pain returns.
Yes I have tried it. Blend of lidocaine, maalox, Benadryl. It calms an outbreak but only has a numbing effect. Pain returns.
Thanks for your info. I am keeping my fingers crossed. At this point, it is better than nothing but I can't imagine you could stay on it forever.
It will numb your mouth for a minute or two, don't last long. Pain is still there.
I did use Magic Mouthwash before my dentist had me try the Dexamethasone and it did little for me. :-( As I mentioned in a couple of other answers above, the DEXAMETHASONE was the answer for me, along with avoiding the foods I had mysteriously developed allergies to at age 63. (WTH, right?)
I have been dealing with BMS for 5 years now. It started with a metallic taste in my mouth followed by a slight burning on the top of my tongue. Prior to this happening, I had a problem at work that caused me to have an anxiety attack. I felt tingling all through my body. The next event that I recorded was when I had a tooth pulled. When it healed, I had an implant put in. Last year I had the implant removed after reading in another support group that people can have an allergy to titanium. Needless to say, this did not work! I now have a big, empty space in my mouth. I've had the blood work done, seen an ENT, gastroenterologist, and neurologist- CAT scan done, and a spinal tap. I also saw a BMS specialist in Philadelphia. I should also mention that I was in perimenopause when the taste and burning started. Two days ago I started Gabapentin for hot flashes and anxiety.
I keep a journal to keep track of this horrific ordeal that is ruining my life!! I forgot to mention, I have to chew gum from morning til night in order to help with the acid taste and the feeling of numbness and dry mouth feeling. I am a teacher and speaking is my life. Chewing gum and teaching is very challenging, to say the least.
Through more investigation I am now assuming the cause of my pain is due to my wisdom teeth extraction which was about 2 years prior to when the pain started. I guess the question is why did I not feel the pain straight after the procedure rather than 2 years later. The pain on my tongue seems to be on my left side which is where one of my back molars were extracted. D did anyone else have their wisdom teeth pulled out and then had pain a year or so later?
Hi, Yoda1976. In Dec. of 2018, I had a tooth pulled top right side, beside my eye tooth. The periodontist then began to build up my bone for a tooth implant. The following month I noticed my tongue moving around to the place where the tooth was pulled. By the summer of 2019, my mouth became dry and burning. I went to several specialists, only to be sent again, to another specialist. In Sept. of 2020, I saw a doctor at Johns Hopkins who leaned to Sjogren's Syndrome. I finally have an appointment in March 2021 with several specialists at Johns Hopkins. An ophthalmologist, radiology, and a rheumatologist who specializes in this condition. I'm still not ruling out that it was caused by the extraction of the tooth.
I have had (self-diagnosed) BMS since last year (mid 2019). I don’t feel I have as extreme a situation as others are experiencing and I feel so badly for them. Mainly, my tongue burns and I have had one overnight experience of my entire mouth burning unrelentingly. I refuse to accept that prescribed meds are the place to start. I’ve begun by boosting my vitamins which I have been inconsistent with in the past. I will try other non-Rx approaches first. Last week I began taking Goli Apple Cider Vinegar gummies. I take 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon when I feel the burning return. I have found a great deal of comfort in these and, no, I am not receiving these free nor am I sponsored by them in any way. It did take a long time to receive the order, but I will definitely be ordering more. While I can’t attest to the inner workings of ACV it does seem to be offering a significant amount of relief thus far. Good luck all.
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burning mouth syndrome, burning, mouth, tongue, throat, treatment, syndrome
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