Burning mouth syndrome and personality profiles

Twenty-eight patients with burning mouth syndrome, evaluated by means established criteria at the Sezione di Odontostomatologia of the University of Parma, and twenty-four matched control subjects were evaluated for their personality profile using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2), an inventory analysing various aspects of personality through 10 scales: hypocondriasis, depression, hysteria, psychopathic deviate, masculinity-femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia, schizofrenia, ipomania, social introversion. We have excluded from this study 7 BMS patients and 12 control subjects for the high scores reported in one or more of the three control scales. To compare the two groups we have used the t-Test and the Mann-Whitney test and we have considered the results statistically significant with P<0.01. Results show no significant difference in personality profiles between the BMS and the control subjects suggesting an etiology for BMS different from the psychogenic hypothesis.