When you visit the doctor’s office, after listening to your symptoms, he normally asks you to open wide and stick out your tongue. The tongue is actually and excellent indicator of overall health of the body. The tongue is the first organ of the digestive system. It moves the food around so the teeth can chew it up and mix it with saliva. The surface of the tongue is covered with papillae containing the taste buds. An unhealthy tongue may be bright red, have grey or white or bald patches, may be painful, sore, or numb, and have fissures. The differential diagnosis could either be geographic tongue or Candida among other things.
Geographic
tongue, also known as benign migratory glossitis results
when the papillae are missing in certain areas of the
tongue. The papillae loss creates smooth, red patches on
the tongue, giving it a map-like, or geographic,
appearance. The patches change size and location from
day to day. Geographic tongue can cause tongue
discomfort and increased sensitivity to hot or spicy
foods. It is not triggered by an infection or another
disease, and is not symptomatic of oral cancer. It does
not have long-term health implications and occurs in
otherwise healthy people. Though persistent and
sometimes uncomfortable, geographic tongue resolves
without treatment. Normally, fissures are also noticed
with geographic tongue. The condition tends to run in
families and is commonly found in people who are
affected by environmental sensitivity, such as
allergies, eczema, and asthma. It may be linked to
stress or diets high in sugar or processed foods. Some
people affected by geographic tongue have found that
taking vitamin supplements causes the condition to go
recede temporarily.
Candida
yeast infection (thrush) is perhaps the most common
infection involving the surface of the tongue, and
unlike geographic tongue, it is a painful condition.
Candida infection is characterized by small, white,
raised patches on the tongue as well as inner cheek, and
these white patches may have red borders. The patches
can be painful and may bleed slightly when you scrape
them off or when you brush your teeth. Sometimes oral
thrush may spread to the roof of the mouth, gums,
tonsils or the back of the throat. They normally respond
to treatment with antifungal medications. Although oral
thrush can affect anyone, it occurs most often in babies
and toddlers, older adults, and in people with
compromised immune systems.
While
geographic tongue resolves on its own,
Candida infection needs to be treated immediately
as soon as it is diagnosed. Left untreated, it can cause
serious complications which may be difficult to control.
Antifungals are generally effective but also have severe
side effects. The best way to deal with Candida
infection is to visit a holistic medicine practitioner.
He will help draw up a treatment plan taking into
consideration various factors about your body and
personality to help get rid of Candida infection once
and for all.
