BACKGROUND: Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is characterized by an oral burning 
sensation (OBS) in the tongue or other oral mucous membrane in the absence of 
any clinical abnormal findings. It frequently affects middle-aged and aged 
women. Although there are many oral disorders with OBS besides BMS, the 
prevalence of OBS is unclear.
AIM: To investigate the prevalence of OBS and analyze the gender differences in 
a Japanese population.
METHODS: The study subjects were 2599 dental patients in two dental offices in 
Tokyo, Japan. The prevalence of OBS was investigated using a questionnaire.
RESULTS: The mean ages of the subjects were 42.7 +/- 13.8 (mean +/- SD) years of 
age in male and 40.1 +/- 15.4 (mean +/- SD) years of age in female. The 
prevalence of OBS "at present" was 2.8% of 1310 male subjects and 3.2% of 1289 
female subjects. There was no statistically significant difference between them 
for each decade. The prevalence including "at present" and "in the past" were 
9.3% in male subjects and 10.8% in female subjects; this difference was not 
statistically significant.
CONCLUSION: These findings fail to demonstrate a female predilection for OBS.