Combination of alpha lipoic acid and gabapentin, its efficacy inthe treatment of Burning Mouth Syndrome: A randomized,double-blind, placebo controlled trial

Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS) is a disease that manifests as burning in the tongue or in any area of the oralmucosa, in the absence of clinically verifiable injuries.Objectives: To verify the efficacy of alpha lipoic acid (ALA) and gabapentin (GABA), used individually andjointly, to reduce the burning in patients with burning mouth and establish a drug therapy for the BMS.Study Design: During April and May 2008, we conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trialin the Department of Clinical Stomatology, Faculty of Dentistry, Rosario, Argentina. The gathering of patientswas between those ones with BMS who were treated in our service between March 2003 and March 2008 withoutcomplying with the applied treatments. The 120 patients were randomly divided into 4 groups and were provided,by lot and in a blinded fashion, with four different treatment cycles consisting of the following drugs: Group A(n = 20) 600 mg / day of alpha lipoic acid for two months, Group B (n = 20) 300 mg / day of gabapentin for twomonths, Group C (n = 20) a combination of both drugs for two months and Group D (n = 60) 100 mg / day of cellulosestarch for two months (control group).Results and Conclusions: All 120 patients completed the treatment. The best response was obtained with the combinationof ALA + GABA, with a 70% of the cases with reduced burning in this group and a 13.2 times greaterchance of presenting positive changes for these patients than those taking placebo. The combined use of drugs thatact at different levels of the nociceptive system can be useful for the treatment of this syndrome (AU)