INTRODUCTION: Glossodynia or burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a common and poorly 
understood disorder. Its treatment is uncertain. Otherwise, there is some 
evidence of the importance of psychological factors in the genesis of this 
disease.
OBJECTIVES: Verify the usefulness of group psychotherapy as an adjuvant 
therapeutic method in the treatment of BMS. CASUISTICS AND METHODS: The study 
group consisted of 64 consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of BMS seen 
at the Stomatology Outpatient Clinic, ENT Department, Sao Paulo University 
Medical School, between May 2002 and May 2007. All the patients were submitted 
to physical examination, laboratorial screening tests, psychological assessment 
(Crown-Crisp Experimental Inventory), and answered a short form of the McGill 
Pain Questionnaire. Only 44 patients who did not show any abnormality in the 
protocol exams entered the study. Twenty-four of them underwent group 
psychotherapy. Twenty patients received placebo. Chi-square test was applied to 
compare the results of treatment with or without psychotherapy.
RESULTS: There were 15 men and 29 women in the study group. Tongue burning was 
the main complaint of the patients. Improvement of symptoms was reported by 17 
(70.8%) of the patients undergoing psychotherapy, while among those who did not 
eight (40%) had improvement of symptoms (P=.04).
CONCLUSION: Psychological assessment demonstrated a close correlation between 
symptoms and psychological factors, suggesting that group psychotherapy is an 
important alternative to conventional treatment methods.