Symptoms of tongue inflammation

Many people have the habit of eating, but they don’t know that although teeth are important, they are not as important as the tongue. If the tongue cannot move the food, then the food will not be able to be pushed to the teeth for chewing. Therefore, when eating, most of the time, it depends on the strength of the tongue. When the tongue is inflamed, it will affect normal eating and many symptoms will appear.

Five symptoms of glossitis

1. At the beginning of glossitis, there are several smooth small spots like red glaze on the tongue, or most of the tongue surface is beef-like, purple-red and smooth. These lesions or the normal tongue surface are often accompanied by superficial ulcers or recurrent follicular stomatitis. This requires us to pay more attention when similar situations occur in the oral cavity, as they may be confused with other oral diseases.

2. The filiform papillae of the tongue atrophy, become thinner or disappear, so the surface of the tongue appears fiery red and is accompanied by shallow fissures. In the early stage of atrophy of the filiform papillae, the fungiform papillae swell and appear more prominent, and in the later stage they gradually atrophy and eventually become a smooth tongue. Glossitis with atrophy is often a prominent symptom of critical illness and can also be a sign of death. It is best not to wait until the disease atrophies, otherwise the patient will still be in great pain.

3. Glossitis often occurs in the front part of the tongue, especially the tip and edge of the tongue, and is particularly obvious in the front half of the tongue. Symptoms include numbness, burning pain, and tingling when eating. Sometimes symptoms such as dry mouth may occur accompanied by a decrease in saliva. The course of the disease is protracted, with remission and exacerbation alternating. Everyone should write this down. This should be considered a relatively early characteristic. If you find similar symptoms, be sure to go to the hospital for treatment as soon as possible.

4. Glossitis may also occur at the same time as other symptoms: If glossitis is accompanied by erosions and cracks at the corners of the mouth, or red lips, dryness and desquamation, and vulvar/scrotal inflammation, it indicates riboflavin deficiency.

5. There is another type that needs special mention, that is, patients with pernicious anemia. The patient's tongue surface atrophy may be accompanied by painful, purple-red, chronic erosion patches, in which the filiform papillae disappear or become thinner, while the fungiform papillae are swollen and sensitive to irritating foods. This is called Hunter glossitis. These erosions usually occur on the tip, margins, and surface of the tongue and sometimes on the mucosa of the lips, cheeks, and palate.