Coated tongue

Everyone has had to deal with minor tongue burns at least once. But it also happens that a person becomes hurt, even if he did not burn anything. There are several reasons why the tip of the tongue hurts, as if it were burned, and they need to be treated differently . It is best to immediately consult a doctor and cure the underlying disease, but if you want to understand the problem yourself, it is advisable to start by identifying the possible causes of the pain.

What provokes the development of pain in the tongue, like after a burn?

Burn from food or liquid

If you underestimate the temperature of steam, hot food or drinks, you can burn your lips, mouth and tongue. Frequently consuming hot food and drinks without checking the temperature increases the risk of burning your tongue. Before eating hot food, you should make sure that you will not burn yourself.

Burning mouth syndrome

During Burning Mouth Syndrome (BMS), a burn on the tongue is felt very strongly for no particular reason. Symptoms can last for a very long time. Along with pain, many patients often notice numbness and tingling of the tongue and mouth and changes in taste preferences. Often this disease occurs in older people.

BMS has no known cause. Its appearance is often associated with dysfunction of the nerves of the mouth. Many experts believe that environment and genetics are involved in the onset of this condition.

Severe stress, anxiety and depression can affect how the body manages pain. These conditions can make BMS symptoms worse. There are other conditions that have similar symptoms.

Secondary causes of burning mouth

They may be related to:

• dry mouth, which is often a side effect of medications or a symptom of another disease;
• thrush, which is an oral yeast infection;
• lichen planus, which is often considered a chronic inflammation of the mouth caused by the immune system attacking the cells in the oral mucosa;
• with a condition in which the surface of the tongue is missing some of its typical small bumps (papillae), and instead there are areas of reddish and raised spots that have a habit of going away over time and then reappearing in various areas of the tongue;
• vitamin deficiency;
• dentures for teeth;
• damage to the oral cavity;
• allergies to certain foods;
• stomach acid that enters the mouth from conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD);
• medications used for high blood pressure.
• diabetes, hypothyroidism and various endocrine diseases;
• hormonal imbalance;
• rubbing teeth, brushing too hard, using mouthwash too often and other bad oral habits.

Causes

The causes of tongue pain can be very diverse, ranging from mechanical damage to the presence of cancer. Most often, pain occurs for the following reasons:

• presence of mechanical damage;
• development of inflammatory processes;
• various allergic reactions;
• development of neuralgia;
• the presence of hidden diseases of other organs of the human body;
• blockage of the salivary gland;
• presence of cancer.

The most common cause of pain on the tip or sides of the tongue is mechanical damage. Most often, the patient receives such injuries during eating, and they include biting, burns, scratches and cuts. The tongue can also be injured by chipped tooth enamel, an uncomfortable denture, or an unscrupulously installed filling with sharp edges. Constant, even minor injury can lead to long-term pain.

Inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity are dangerous and painful. If a patient has a sore tongue, throat, palate, and it hurts to swallow, the doctor has every reason to suspect the presence of inflammatory processes in the oral cavity. They can be caused by viral diseases of the nasopharynx, as a result of which the patient's sublingual lymph nodes become enlarged. In this case, the patient complains of pain when swallowing at the base of the tongue. With such symptoms, you should consult an otolaryngologist, since the cause of pain in the tongue may be acute purulent tonsillitis, which requires immediate medical treatment.

Another cause of pain is viral stomatitis. It affects both the surface of the tongue and the entire mucous membrane of the oral cavity. The disease is painful, causes difficulty in eating, and causes discomfort to the patient.

Often the causes of pain in the tongue lie in the presence of an allergic reaction in the patient. This could be an allergy to food or medications. Typically, the patient complains of tongue pain after eating, especially after kiwi, pineapple, seeds, drinking alcohol, and also after smoking a pipe and cigarettes.

Most often, an allergic reaction is expressed in the form of stomatitis or fungal diseases. Consumption of spicy food and alcohol only aggravates the painful condition. Discontinuation of those drugs and products that cause an allergic reaction leads to the disappearance of allergy symptoms.

Neuralgic diseases usually significantly complicate correct diagnosis; in this case, it is difficult to determine why the patient’s tongue hurts. The most common neuralgic disease is glossalgia. It occurs as a result of malfunctions of the endocrine system, as a result of neurogenic disorders, and also as a reaction to mental trauma or severe stress. With glossalgia, partial or complete numbness of the tongue, tingling, burning, and rapid fatigue of the tongue when speaking are observed. Often with glossalgia, the lips also hurt; the patient complains that he has a headache and a numb tongue.

Another reason for the appearance of pain in the tongue is the presence of hidden diseases of other organs and systems in the patient. The tongue reacts sharply to any changes in the condition of the body, and the result of infectious diseases of the body can be glossitis - inflammation of tissues.

Soreness can also be caused by diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, cardiovascular and endocrine systems, as well as the presence of anemia in the patient.

A blockage in the salivary gland, which is located near the tongue, can also lead to pain. In this case, the patient complains of pain under the tongue, constant discomfort and soreness of the oral cavity.

The most serious cause of tongue pain is cancer. In this case, patients complain of pain inside the tongue. In the early stages of cancer, there may be no pain at all; it usually appears in later stages. The treatment of oncological diseases is carried out by an oncologist, to whom both a general practitioner and a dentist can refer if there is a suspicion of oncological disease.

Classification of diseases that can cause tongue pain, like a burn

When there are no obvious signs of changes in the mucous membrane, then it is probably due to the following diseases:

• neuroses;
• osteochondrosis;
• neurology of cervical nerves;
• stomach pathologies;
• liver pathologies;
• diabetes mellitus;
• hormonal changes;
• hypovitaminosis.

Diagnosis of the disease

If the pain does not go away after 3-4 days, then you should urgently seek help from a doctor. The doctor will be able to determine the cause of the pain and determine further treatment. To find the source of the problem you will need:

1. Donate blood for tests.
2. Set your blood sugar level.
3. Give a throat swab.
4. Take an x-ray or fluorography (if necessary).

As soon as inflammation of the salivary glands, lymph nodes, or cancer occurs, the source will be determined very quickly, since they are accompanied by obvious external signs.

If we are talking about other symptoms, then it is probably gastritis, ulcers and other similar pathologies of the digestive and liver systems. With such pathologies, the appearance of plaque and unpleasant odor from the mouth, heartburn, and belching are often noticed. If you have such symptoms, you should seek medical help.

Pain on the tip of the tongue

There may be several reasons for the occurrence of such pain:

1. Mini tip injury . In first place in terms of prevalence are mini-injuries of the tip of the tongue. Most often, patients inadvertently bite the tip of their tongue or burn it with too hot food. Such mini-injuries are painful and cause a lot of trouble for patients; the papillae hurt, and sometimes eating becomes impossible for a while due to severe pain. Over time, everything heals and passes without a trace.
2. Glossalgia is a serious disease in which the tip of the tongue most often hurts, less often its sides. The pain is manifested by a burning sensation; patients often complain that their tongue hurts, like after a burn. Sometimes the painful sensations spread to other organs of the oral cavity; the patient’s tongue and gums, sometimes lips and cheeks, hurt. If such symptoms are detected, you should immediately consult a doctor, since glossalgia is difficult to treat and exhausts the patient with its symptoms.
3. Glossitis is an inflammatory disease of the tongue. When it occurs, the tip of the tongue can be very painful, because the infection that causes inflammation usually gets into the wound, and the tip of the tongue is bitten much more often than other parts of it.
4. Stomatitis is also accompanied by severe pain in the tongue, which becomes covered with painful ulcers located over its entire surface.
5. Allergy . Allergic reactions are also common causes of pain.

How to treat your tongue

At the very beginning of treatment, first aid cannot be avoided. And then doctors should evaluate the patient’s condition and the degree of the burn.

In order to prevent infection and cope with pain and discomfort, you must:

1. Drink and rinse the area with cool water for five minutes.
2. Suck on anesthetic lozenges to soothe the pain.
3. Rinse your mouth with cool water or salt water (1 teaspoon of salt should be diluted in 8 tablespoons of water).
4. Avoid warm or hot liquids, which may cause irritation.
5. Take acetaminophen or ibuprofen for pain and inflammation.
6. Consider sprinkling some sugar or tasting honey on your tongue to help relieve the pain.
7. Check with your doctor or dentist if the burn does not improve or if there are signs of infection.

Signs of infection may include:

• increase in reddened areas;
• increased pain;
• poor quality treatment;
• swelling;
• drainage of pus;
• fever.

How to get rid of pain at home

Some of the reasons why your tongue feels sore, feels like it's burned, and has a white coating on it indicate poor hygiene. In this case, to eliminate unpleasant symptoms, it is enough to regularly clean the oral cavity of food debris and bacteria. If discomfort does not go away after a few days, consult a doctor.

To relieve symptoms at home, you can resort to the following traditional methods of therapy:

• Use homemade antiseptic rinses to prevent infection. Such manipulations will be useful regardless of why the tongue began to hurt.
• If you are sure that you did not burn yourself, but the discomfort does not go away, rinse your mouth with a soothing infusion of chamomile or sage. In pharmacies you can even find special solutions for sensitive gums, which also relieve pain.
• If you feel the burning sensation is too strong, you can take a pain reliever. If you are pregnant, you should first consult your doctor.
• Drink more water, weak tea. During therapy, avoid soda and juices. Try to eliminate white sugar from your diet.
• Lollipops with mild flavors relieve discomfort. But if you abuse them, you can damage the mucous membrane of the mouth and tongue.

There were very few ways to get rid of discomfort similar to a tongue burn. In almost all cases, you will have to go to a specialist to find out how to treat the root cause of the pathology.

Burning mouth syndrome

If you have BMS, you will benefit from the same treatment options that apply to treating first-degree burns.

Although there is no medically approved treatment specifically for BMS, treatment professionals have found that the following treatments are relevant in specific situations: medications (lidocaine, doxepin, and clonazepam), as well as prescription medications, such as gabapentin, SSRIs and amitriptyline, there are also procedural treatments such as alpha lipoic acid, cognitive behavioral therapy, meditation and other relaxation methods.

Treating secondary causes is the key to eliminating symptoms. For example, if the medications you currently take cause dry mouth, your doctor may prescribe an alternative.

If acid reflux or GERD is causing stomach acid to return to your mouth, your doctor may prescribe medications such as omeprazole to reduce stomach acid production.

Pain after puncture

Recently it has become fashionable to pierce the tongue, it is called piercing. We will skip moralizing on this topic and tell you briefly what this threatens.

Many patients complain that their tongue hurts for a long time after the puncture. This is considered normal, since a puncture, even the most skillful one, is a kind of injury that takes time to heal. In addition, the tongue is literally riddled with nerve endings, so the puncture site hurts especially strongly. It is impossible to say exactly how long the pain continues after the puncture; this happens individually for everyone: for some, the pain stops 2-3 days after the puncture, for others the pain lasts for 10-12 days. If your tongue is swollen and painful immediately after the piercing, this is normal. However, severe pain and swelling should gradually subside and disappear completely 4-5 days after the puncture. If the pain does not subside after a week or is acute and throbbing, you should immediately consult a doctor, as the possibility of infection cannot be ruled out.

Causes of pain after piercing:

• damage resulting from puncture of nerve endings located in the tongue;
• infection in the wound and development of the inflammatory process;
• allergy to the metal from which the jewelry is made.

In order to prevent the development of complications, you should contact only professionals. After all, not every cosmetologist knows how to properly pierce the tongue without damaging the nerve or developing inflammatory processes. If, after the piercing, the pain when speaking and swallowing does not go away, you should consult a dentist or surgeon.

It should be warned that the closer to the edges of the tongue the puncture is made, the more painful and dangerous complications it is. The easiest way to heal is a puncture made in the center of the tongue, because along the edges of the tongue there are arteries, damage to which can even lead to death. How far from the tip the puncture is made also plays a role. The closer to the root the tongue is pierced, the more it swells and hurts.

1. If after piercing your tongue hurts on the side, left or right, you should definitely consult a doctor to see if the lateral arteries are damaged or if they are being pressed by a barbell.
2. If the patient is suffering from pain in the tip of the tongue, but it is not swollen and there are no signs of inflammation, such pain must be endured and the puncture site must be given time to heal.
3. If the tongue was pierced in the root area, you should expect that the pain at the base will be prolonged, and the healing itself will take 4-6 weeks.

Stitching pain in the tongue after piercing should alert you, as they most often indicate the development of an acute inflammatory process due to infection. Without timely treatment, an abscess may develop.

How long will it hurt?

A minor tongue burn will heal in a couple of weeks or even less without any special treatment. But it should be noted that sometimes it may take 5-6 weeks to heal a tongue burn. In general, everything will depend on how severe the burn is and the reasons for getting it.

Treatment for BMS may require quite a long time (from 3 months to 3 years). Sometimes treatment can be very difficult. Numerous studies show that only a few out of 10 people feel improvement after 7 days of treatment.

How to prevent tongue burns

Tongue burns are easy to prevent; all you need to do is check the temperature of your food and drinks. Drinks or foods heated in the microwave may heat unevenly, so be very careful.

But there is no known way to prevent BMS. To reduce the burning sensation, you need to reduce stress and stop using tobacco and various foods and liquids (soda, sour and spicy). During treatment, give up such products and notice slight improvements.

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Soreness on the sides of the tongue

1. If a patient complains of pain on the lateral surfaces of the tongue, the main reasons for their occurrence are most likely the same mechanical injuries, glossalgia or glossitis, allergic reactions and stomatitis. Often the tongue hurts on the sides due to poorly fitted dentures, which constantly injure the mucous membrane with its sharp edges.
2. If the patient smokes a lot, this can also cause severe pain.
3. If there is no apparent reason for the soreness of the tongue, and yet it hurts almost constantly, neuralgia should be suspected.

In any case, if your tongue is painful, you should consult a doctor; only he can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Providing first aid

First actions

Your initial response to a tongue burn determines the speed of your recovery, and this first step is simple. As with any minor burn, cold water can quickly regulate tongue irritation.

Drink a glass of water to lower the temperature of your tongue and keep your mouth moist (saliva flow is key to ensuring that bacteria don't cause further harm to the area). Stay away from hot foods and drinks, which will only irritate the burn until it heals.

Cool down

After the “event” itself, drink something soft and cold so that the numbness begins to be felt naturally throughout the day. Choose foods that are easy to eat, such as fruit porridge, yogurt, or applesauce, all of which will help soothe the burning sensation. Also, be sure to drink a glass of water to wash away any food debris that may damage your tongue.

Rinsing

Once your mouth has cooled, you will need to rinse with the warm salt water mixture. Add 1/8 teaspoon salt to a glass of warm water, gargle gently in your mouth, and then spit it out. Salt is a natural antiseptic that can reduce swelling and pain, ultimately relieving burn symptoms.

A little sugar

Sugar is a little-known painkiller available in any home. A tiny drop on your tongue can dull the pain when you burn your tongue. Sprinkle some sugar on your tongue, let it dissolve and feel how it helps - but be careful with your portions as it's not so good for your teeth.

Honey is another delicious burn remedy used in countries like India for its antibacterial properties to speed up the healing process of ulcers. The most important advantage of these remedies is that they are available in almost every home and can very quickly help dull the pain.

Take a pill

When all of the above suggestions fail to provide you with the relief you need, there are always standard over-the-counter pain medications. Take the recommended dose of acetaminophen or ibuprofen to treat inflammation.

Keep in mind that hot foods can also harm the surfaces of your teeth, so to ensure your tongue heals completely, use a toothbrush with very soft bristles.

If you are unsure about the cause of your burning tongue symptoms or if they simply do not go away, consult your dentist to rule out burning tongue syndrome, which is a chronic problem.

Small sips and bites should be taken when eating and drinking hot things. And if your burning tongue doesn't improve, call your dentist to find out what you should do next.

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Pain under the tongue at the base

Pain at the base of the tongue is a strong irritant for a person; it interferes with talking and eating, significantly worsening the patient’s quality of life. There are several causes of pain at the root:

• With glossalgia, pain can be localized both at the tip of the tongue and at its base, it all depends on the structural features of the patient’s tongue.
• With allergies, almost any part of the tongue can also hurt.
• Diseases of the gastrointestinal tract can provoke severe pain at the root of the tongue, which annoys the patient for a long time.
• With vitamin deficiency, patients complain of tingling and pain at the base.
• The most serious causes of soreness at the base of the tongue are cellulitis and abscess. Symptoms of these diseases are severe acute pain at the base of the tongue, the inability to close the mouth, bad breath, increased salivation, in which saliva constantly drips from the mouth. The patient's tongue swells, causing speech impairment and difficulty breathing. Both abscess and phlegmon are extremely dangerous diseases, so if you notice at least one of the above symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor.

Rinse solutions and decoctions

The mucous membrane of the oral cavity is very often injured and after this many simply do not know what to do next. Some people simply ignore pain, others panic and immediately look for suitable medications.

But in such a situation you need to act a little differently. Above is information about first aid. First aid measures include rinsing with homemade solutions and decoctions.

Aloe

It is no secret that aloe is famous for its medicinal properties and the list of them can be endless. The juice of this plant helps in gastrointestinal pathologies, skin ailments, and also helps in restoring the immune system and respiratory diseases.

This plant can also be very useful for injuring the oral mucosa. Aloe juice will help solve this problem in a short time. How to use aloe if you burn your tongue?

Every few hours, treat the affected area with the juice of this plant. You can also apply a small piece of aloe to the affected area. This will help cope with the inflammatory process, but affect wound healing.

Lavender oil

To relieve pain, apply lavender oil to the affected area. This remedy will help have an antiseptic, disinfecting effect.

Vitamin E

Vitamin E oil solution is famous for its healing properties. You will need to open the vitamin E capsule and pour the contents onto the affected area.

Sea ​​buckthorn

Sea buckthorn is a plant that is famous for its medicinal properties and will also help with tongue burns. To reduce the pain from a burn, sea buckthorn should be used as an oil. If you don’t have sea buckthorn oil, then the bark and leaves of this plant will also work.

Use sea buckthorn oil, and if you don’t have it, you need to chew the berries and hold them on the affected area. After a few minutes, the pain will become much less.

You can prepare sea buckthorn solution yourself. You need to use sea buckthorn leaves or pieces of bark. First, rinse the leaves thoroughly. Then pour boiling water over the leaves. And wait 30 minutes and you can use the decoction.

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What to do and how to deal with pain?

First of all, you should contact one of the specialists dealing with oral diseases. This could be either a dentist or an otolaryngologist. Only a doctor can determine why the tongue hurts and what treatment needs to be prescribed.

Most often, patients are interested in what to do if the tip of the tongue hurts. First of all, you should rule out injury. If you bite or burn the tip of your tongue, you need to give the wound time to heal. As it heals, the pain will go away on its own. If the pain is caused by a piercing, you should follow all care recommendations, paying special attention to oral hygiene.

If your throat and white tongue hurt, it is most likely a sore throat or other upper respiratory tract disease. Inflammation of the tonsils is usually accompanied by severe pain at the base of the tongue, and if the left side hurts, it means that the left tonsil is more enlarged and inflamed and vice versa. If you notice redness of the throat, enlarged tonsils and submandibular lymph nodes, you should consult a therapist or otolaryngologist for treatment. After the sore throat goes away, the pain in the tongue will subside on its own.

If the tongue is very sore and the surface of the oral cavity is covered with a white cheesy coating and is inflamed, this is most likely candidal stomatitis. It is unlikely that you will be able to cope with the disease on your own, so you should contact a specialist for help.

The tongue may hurt after anesthesia, tooth extraction, and a visit to the dentist. This happens especially often if a back root tooth has been removed. At the same time, swelling of the gums, which is inevitable when a tooth is removed, can also affect the tongue area, causing its pain. Usually the discomfort goes away a few days after tooth extraction. If the pain persists longer, you should immediately contact the doctor who performed the tooth extraction.