The tongue is a litmus test of the state of health of the body. It is not for nothing that any doctor begins examining a patient from the oral cavity. The surface of the tongue always tells the specialist a possible cause of the existing pathology.
Why can this important organ hurt?
No one is worried about discomfort after an accidental bite of the tongue. Another thing is if a pathological symptom occurs for no apparent reason. Painful sensations in the tongue may appear as a result of:
- injuries;
- allergies;
- viral ulcers;
- taking medications;
- inflammatory processes in the tissues;
- anemia;
- excessive smoking;
- problems with the intestines, brain, or heart.
The tip of the tongue hurts for many reasons. The most common ones are:
1. Biting your tongue with your teeth while eating. This happens due to excessive haste of a person. Injury is possible in connection with a defect in the occlusion of teeth.
2. Eating specific foods. The tip of the tongue hurts from a large amount of spicy and sour food. A negative effect on the mucous membrane of this organ is also the habit of often sucking candy. To eliminate the pathology, just change the diet.
3. Injuries resulting from newly installed dentures or crowns. It takes a certain period to get used to them. The body must adapt to the presence of a foreign body in it. Usually it is not necessary to wait so long, and the tongue will cease to cling to the protrusions of the installed crown. Sometimes the cause of the injury lies in the mistake of a specialist who incorrectly installed the prosthesis - in such cases, a more careful adjustment of the crowns to the shape of the jaw is required.
4. Inflammatory processes. The tip of the tongue hurts from various sores with stomatitis, which most often develop in connection with a weakening of immunity. The cause of inflammation can be too hot a drink, excessive tension of nerves or a bitten tongue.
5. Glossitis. At the initial stage of this infectious inflammatory process, a burning sensation is felt on the tip of the tongue. If treatment is not started on time, then the pain covers the entire tongue, palate, gums and other areas of the oral cavity. At this stage, the source of infection can be eliminated only under the supervision of a specialist.
6. Glossalgia. This is a serious pathology, in which the tip of the tongue most often hurts. The main symptom of the disease is a burning sensation.
7. Allergic reactions. With their manifestations, the tip of the tongue often hurts. These pathologies are very common.
Quite often, patients complain that the tip of the tongue is numb. This loss of sensation, called paresthesia, can be caused by a number of reasons. These include taking medications and lesions of the
glossopharyngeal nerve, glossalgia and allergic reactions. Numbness, which is felt at the tip of the tongue, is often found in women during menopause. This pathology is associated with functional changes that occur in the thyroid gland, as well as the autonomic center and vasomotor system. Loss of sensitivity of the tip of the tongue affects diabetics and patients with anemia.