My name is Andreas Schroll. I was born on Christmas Eve 1976. I never had any truly big problems in my life until one day in February 1999. I was taking a shower when I noticed a strange painfull sensation in the front roof of my mouth. My burning mouth syndrome had begun.

My first notion was that this was caused by some very spicy food I had eaten the day before, but after two weeks the sensation hadn't disappeared but had spread to the tongue, and the intensity had increased. My breath even started feeling hot when I exhaled.

After three weeks I went to my doctor and told him about my problem. He looked at my tongue and palate, but couldn't see anything, and said that I had probably gotten a burn from the spicy food, and I should just give it some time and it would disappear by itself… That did not happen.

Three more weeks went by, and by now the symptoms were not only physical. I was beginning to be afraid of what it was, and the physical symptoms were very excruciating at times. It was beginning to affect my social life and school work too.

Six weeks had gone by when I contacted an ear, nose and throat specialist. She had only heard of one similar case, and didn't know what to do. She tried a lot of different things without any results. By this time, I was having it BAD!

I was beginning to get desperate. I couldn't sleep properly, and everybody started asking what was wrong with me, because they could sense something was wrong. I had lost the gleam in my eyes.

I started spending all my time searching on the Internet and was introduced to the concept of Burning Mouth Syndrome. I began going to all kinds of different doctors. Several dentists, neurologists, allergists, ear/nose/throat specialists, and anesthesiologists - all without any result…And only few with an understanding of my situation.

The summer of 1999 was the worst period of my life. I decided to see a psychiatrist. Once again without any luck. And I even went on a very strict diet for two months, proposed by a famous Danish allergy specialist. At the same time, I ate all kinds of strange medicine prescribed to me by all the different doctors because they might have an effect on the symptoms. I've been through everything from Vitamin A and B, antihistamines, three different antidepressants and anticonvultants to different kinds of alternative medicine. I went to acupuncture, healers, different alternative treaters, and spiritual channels. All this while trying to keep my head above water.

It wasn't until late fall of 1999 I found something that worked - and it worked well. I got in touch with a Danish dental professor at the Danish School of Dentistry, who had been interested in BMS for many years. He told me that BMS was very difficult to get rid of, because of the psychological factors involved. He told me that getting some distance to the symptoms was the most important thing for getting over it.

At the same time I was regularly seeing a psychologist, who did give me hope and renewed strength, but every time the symptoms increased I was right back where I began. I was beginning to realize that getting control over the symptoms was the essence of the answer to how you live with BMS, instead of just surviving it.

The Dental professor had a Removable Plate made for me, which helped me from the beginning. The mere touch of the affected skin relieved the symptoms, and I began to use the Plate day and night. This combined with the psychological inputs I received from the psychologist and another more spiritual channel began to give me some very good periods, where I really started to enjoy myself again. I could smile and laugh without thinking of BMS, and I could give my education some more attention again.

The period from November 1999 until the summer of 2000 was a long period of ups and downs, but because of the Plate the fluctuations of my mood were smaller than before, and I finished school in the early summer of 2000 and got my bachelor's degree in Economics from Copenhagen Business School.

But still… The symptoms in my tongue could still make me sweat with fear and anxiety when I thought I felt them increasing, and at the end of July 2000 I started getting some bad symptoms in my tongue againI was beginning to feel like I was back where I had been the summer before. At the same time I was planning a big trip to North and Central America with my beautiful girlfriend, and I started to fear that BMS would ruin that journey.

At this time my knowledge of BMS from my research on the Internet, my own experience and the doctors I had spoken to was enormous. I knew exactly what kind of pains they were, I knew exactly how much influence on the symptoms the psychological aspect had, and I felt in my heart that if I tried, I could do something about it. But the symptoms were draining my energy again.

Then one night when I was lying in bed with no symptoms in the palate because of the Plate but with very bad symptoms on the tongue, which I knew would make it a terrible night with difficulty sleeping and waking early worrying about my life, I stuck out my tongue and pulled the cover up and placed it on my tongue. The symptoms disappeared at once… The touching of the tongue was enough to distract the pain receptors even though they were firing like crazy. I slept like a baby that night…

The next day the symptoms returned and I realized that I needed to invent something that could give me the same relief during the day, as the covers had done that night. This led to the invention of both the covers and the pads. With the pads I quickly discovered that if I put some fresh-mouth drops on them, it helped distract the pain receptors even more.

On August 24 my girlfriend and I left for a fantastic 4-months journey. It was on this journey that my girlfriend, who had been by my side throughout the whole thing, suggested that I put a pacifier in my mouth to relieve the symptoms. This suggestion lead to the chew, which, along with the pads, covers and the plate, became my faithful companions throughout the journey.

So for me, in many ways, it was a journey of life… I had found a way to control the physical symptoms of BMS in a way that for long periods of time made me forget all about it and just enjoy living and travelling. It was on this journey that I decided that, when I returned home in December 2001, I would postpone my further studies and dedicate my time to develope this homepage and have the products professionally produced.

As of January 2003 I'm back to school. I'm taking my Graduate Degrree in Information Technology at IT University Copenhagen. It has already made me able to update this site extensively :)

I know I can help… And this is only the beginning! You to can help, by signing up in the Forum and share your experience.