Abstract:Objective To observe the effect of combined psychotherapy on the concentration of salivary cortisol in patients with burning mouth syndrome (BMS), and to evaluate its clinical therapeutic effect. Methods A total of 31 patients with BMS treated in the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Medical College of Nanjing University from January 2017 to December 2020 were collected (randomly divided into 16 cases in the combined treatment group, treated with psychological intervention + Kouyanqing; 15 cases in the drug treatment group, treated with Kouyanqing), and 16 healthy cases in the control group. At baseline (T0), 30 days of treatment (T1), the end of 60 days of treatment (T2) and 4 months of follow-up (T3), the subjects in the three groups were evaluated by SAS,SDS and VAS, and the concentration of cortisol in saliva in the morning was measured, and the changes of each index at different time points and the differences between groups were compared. Results The SAS, SDS and salivary cortisol concentration at T0 in two groups of BMS patinets were higher than those in the control group (P<0.01). The salivary cortisol concentrations of combined treatment group at T2 and T3 were lower than those of drug treatment group (P<0.05). The SAS recovery of the combined treatment group at T3 was similar to that of the control group (P>0.05), and was significantly lower than that of the drug treatment group (P<0.05). Conclusion Increased salivary cortisol concentration is associated with negative emotions in BMS patients. The treatment of BMS should be combined with psychotherapy, which can improve the clinical treatment effect.