Tongue Disorders

On this page

Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

See, Play and Learn

• Images

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Reference Desk
• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Your tongue helps you taste, swallow, and chew. You also use it to speak. Your tongue is made up of many muscles. The upper surface contains your taste buds.

Problems with the tongue include:

• Pain
• Swelling
• Changes in color or texture
• Abnormal movement or difficulty moving the tongue
• Taste problems

These problems can have many different causes. Treatment depends on the underlying problem.

Start Here

• Lip and Tongue Disorders (Merck & Co., Inc.)

Related Issues

• So You Want to Pierce Your Tongue? (Academy of General Dentistry)

Specifics

• Black Hairy Tongue (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish
• Fissured Tongue (American Academy of Oral Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Yellow Tongue (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Images

• Hairy Tongue (VisualDX)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Glossitis (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Glossitis, Benign Migratory (National Institutes of Health)
• ClinicalTrials.gov: Tongue Diseases (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Risk factors associated with tongue lesions: a propensity score-matched case-control study.
• Article: Tongue Necrosis: An Atypical Sign of Giant-cell Arteritis.
• Article: Axillary papules: an uncommon location of lichen nitidus.
• Tongue Disorders -- see more articles

Reference Desk

• Find an ENT (American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery)

Find an Expert

• American Academy of Otolaryngology--Head and Neck Surgery
• National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research Also in Spanish

Children

• Tongue Tie (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)
• Your Tongue (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Geographic tongue (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Glossitis (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Leukoplakia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Macroglossia (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tongue biopsy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tongue problems (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Tongue tie (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish