In the human body, the tongue is one of the strongest muscles. Due to this fact, it is almost impossible to overstrain the muscles of the tongue, but the mucous membrane is very sensitive to external influences. Hot and spicy food can be harmful. In the case when the tongue begins to hurt as if surrounded, but there are no good reasons for this, then this is a signal of concern and an occasion to pay attention to health. If there is a problem that the tongue hurts (as if it burned), and how to treat the disease, then you should immediately consult a doctor.
In medicine, there is a term denoting pain in the tongue, it is a disease of the mucous membrane or the tongue completely. The disease was called "glossalgia", along with it there are numbness, swelling and burning of the tongue. Most patients complain of a strong burning sensation of the tongue, they compare it with a burn. Basically, older people are at risk, as with age there are many problems with metabolism and overweight. Glossalgia in rare cases is primary, more often it is attributed to injury or signals a violation in the body.
Causes of pain
The reasons why the tongue hurts are as if burnt (tip, root or whole) quite a lot:
- Damage due to injury. These include biting the tongue during meals, microtrauma, which appear from poorly installed dentures. The consequence may be infection of the mucous membrane of the tongue.
- Inflammatory diseases. Often common oral diseases are stomatitis or inflammation of the tongue. They appear after a viral infection when the body is most weakened and vulnerable. Also, the disease can arise from non-compliance with personal hygiene rules and from long-term use of drugs that can lower the protective function.
- Digestive system disease will be with 100% certainty for those who say that the tongue hurts, as if burned and the plaque does not go away. These include all diseases of the gastrointestinal tract during which the main function is disrupted - assimilation and digestion of food. With the disease, symptoms occur: the tongue swells and hurts, and is also covered with a touch of white or yellow.
- An allergic reaction can also occur as a symptom when the tongue turns red and it hurts as if burned. It can be triggered by a drug or food, alcohol and nicotine are not excluded. The tongue begins to hurt after using one of the above.
- The lack of vitamins and minerals. Deficiency of vitamins, iron and trace elements is negatively displayed on the mucous membrane of the tongue, it can change color, increase and hurt. It is with a lack of something that a burning sensation of the tongue arises.
- Neuralgic diseases. It is sometimes difficult to identify diseases of the tongue formed due to nerve disease. The most common disease is glossalgia, it appears from severe fright, endocrine disease, or psychological trauma. Due to a neurological disease, numbness, tingling, burning and pain of the tongue appear, and a person very quickly gets tired during a conversation.
- Oncology. One of the most common causes of pain is a malignant or benign tumor of the mouth. In this case, the tongue hurts and the throat is as if burned.
How does it manifest itself
The most common cause of mechanical damage is seeds, fish bones, dentures, and poorly processed fillings. From such microtraumas, redness and swelling do not always appear, sometimes ordinary pain occurs.
When allergic reactions form, a burning sensation of the tongue is felt, while external changes do not occur. The same feeling comes from eating unripe or sour fruits.
In the case when a few days after painful sensations on the mucous membrane form or when a plaque appears on the tongue (or vice versa, it becomes glossy), this signals inflammatory diseases. Inflammation starts from infection of small wounds on the gums when the body is already weakened, especially due to stress.
From a long illness and a decrease in immunity with antibiotics, a fungus of the genus Candida appears in the oral cavity. Such a fungus is constantly located in the oral cavity, but with any changes, it is activated and becomes the cause of candidiasis. With a disease with a fungus in the mouth, burning, dryness is felt, a white coating appears on the tongue and cheeks, itching is felt on the lips.
Change-provoking diseases
If changes in the mucous membrane occur without external signs, then, most likely, this indicates the following diseases:
- neurosis;
- osteochondrosis;
- neurology of nerves in the neck;
- stomach diseases;
- liver disease
- diabetes mellitus;
- changes due to hormones;
- hypovitaminosis.
With such diseases, the sensations are different: from painful sensations and burning to numbness and dryness of the mucosa.
Diagnostics
If the burning sensation and pain do not go away after several days, you need to urgently go to the hospital so that they can determine the source of the discomfort and prescribe the current treatment. To find out the reasons, you first need to do:
- Donate blood for testing.
- Measure blood sugar.
- Make a throat swab.
- Take an x-ray or fluorography (if necessary).
When inflammation of the salivary glands, lymph nodes, and oncological diseases occurs, the source is determined immediately, since they are accompanied by certain external signs. If other symptoms occur, then most likely this indicates gastritis, ulcer and other similar diseases of the digestive system and liver. In such diseases, plaque and an unpleasant odor from the oral cavity, heartburn, belching are characteristic.
Stress
The consequence of psychological trauma, disorders, stress is excessive dryness of the mucous membrane, and salivary fluid also changes, and it leads to an increase in the sensitivity of the tongue. Patients, as a rule, begin to worry about burning on the tip or on the sides of the tongue, which is accompanied by numbness and frequent tingling. The provoked symptoms appear from nowhere and pass by themselves without any intervention. It is worth paying attention that with neurological diseases of the neck, often painful sensations are directed just to the oral cavity and tongue. Sometimes it’s not easy to pinpoint such a relationship, so the patient may be asked to do more research.
Avitaminosis
A lack of vitamins, folic acid, iron and other elements can cause pain in the tongue, in which the mucous membrane can change color and become like after a burn. To restore these elements, simply consuming foods containing the right substances is not enough. Basically, for complete replenishment, you will need to undergo a course of treatment with injections and the use of drugs that can increase the level of content of missing elements.
Hormones
Hormone use, as well as endocrine diseases, cause a burning tongue. Often in the field of vision are older women, in which menopause begins. Burning of the mouth appears with diabetes with increased dryness.
First aid
There are cases when the pain of the tongue provoked by minor injuries, therefore, in order to alleviate the condition and relieve pain as an option, the area that is damaged should be smeared with Lugol's solution. In addition to this method, constant rinsing of the oral cavity with a solution of "Furacilin" or "Chlorhexidine" is excellent, you can also independently prepare a decoction based on chamomile or sage. These solutions are well suited for both treatment and prevention of oral diseases. When pain is unbearable, it can be eliminated with painkillers such as Paracetamol or Ketanol. Also able to relieve pain and anesthetics, for example, "Anestezin". When the cause of painful sensations is nerve stress, in these cases sedative drugs such as tincture of valerian, motherwort, Glycine or herbal tea with herbs are well suited.
The tongue hurts as if it burned. What to treat?
There are situations when the tongue begins to hurt a lot, as if burnt. With such symptoms, it is usually difficult for a person to speak for a long time and eat normally. The first thing a patient should do is to seek qualified help at the hospital in order to prevent the advanced stage of the disease. In this case, only the specialist will be able to determine the degree of the disease and prescribe the current treatment, having performed all the necessary tests and examinations.
When the tongue and palate is sore (as if burned) due to injuries, an unsuccessful prosthesis or from an enamel fragment, then in order not to aggravate the situation, it is necessary to rinse your mouth very often, it is best to use antiseptic solutions as a rinse aid, and also try to avoid new injuries during eating or talking.
Eliminate the causes
If the tongue hurts (as if it burned the tip) occasionally or not very much, you can try to deal with the problem yourself, all you need is to know the cause of the pain, then try one of the proposed options:
- With numbness and pain, the source of which is stress or nervous strain, valerian will help, as well as tincture of motherwort or peony.
- When the cause is an oral pathology, rinsing will be helpful. For the rinse, you can use the prepared solution based on chamomile, sage, furatsilin and any other antiseptics.
- If the pains begin to bother or distract very much, then you can try using tranquilizers (Ketonol, Paracetamol, Phenazepam) or painkillers.
- Anesthetics will help to eliminate all unpleasant sensations, these include: "Anestezin", a solution of trimecaine, citral in peach oil;
- When deficiency conditions, such as vitamin deficiency or anemia, become a cause, a course of taking vitamins and minerals will help cope with the pain.
Often pain in the tongue signals a specific disease, the emerging symptoms in pathologies only confirm this. Based on this, we can conclude that it is necessary to treat a specific disease, and not all at once, since subsequently there will be no result.
Other drugs
Whatever it was, in any case, it is very important to always have at hand such preparations: valerian, bromine, B vitamins, painkillers. When the source of the disease is iron deficiency, doctors prescribe a course of treatment: Ferrum Lekom, Ferrokalem, Hemostimulin. For self-treatment, it is advised to make baths using an oil solution (Citral, Trimekain or Anastezin). In addition, lubrication with a solution of retinol is prescribed. Treatment with these drugs helps reduce salivation and moisturize dry tongue mucous membranes. Also, thanks to such treatment, glossalgia can be eliminated for a while, at least until the causes of the disease and the treatment method are determined.