The syndrome of oral complaints: etiology and therapy.

Many patients who were examined at the oral medicine clinic have had almost no findings, despite their severe complaints, and we propose to diagnose their condition as SOC (syndrome of oral complaints). It is more frequent in middle-aged postmenopausal women who thereby tend to express all three determinants of illness--the biologic, the psychological, and the social. Such a triple assessment of the determinants, together with a thorough physical examination, brings the SOC into the diagnostic category of hypochondria. Therefore, it should be treated by the family dentist or by the general internist, with reassurance, local measures, and minor tranquilizers.