Geographic Tongue
- by Judi on May 5, 2006
Tege has periodically had these strange patterns on his tongue. It’s as if the taste buds fall off in patches, leaving a smooth red spot. It’s really odd. I’d been only slightly concerned, as it didn’t appear to bother him at all. Doctors had seen it, and not commented.. so I didn’t worry overly much.
I tried different internet searches, but never seemed to have the right combination of words. I’m not sure what I searched for the last time (it’s been a month or so), but I found this strange moving pattern is “geographic tongue“, also known as benign migratory glossitis (benign, meaning not harmful; migratory, meaning to move around; glossitis, an abnormality of the tongue). It’s nothing to be concerned about, and doesn’t seem to be a problem with Tege, however, apparently it can burn. I wonder if that may become a symptom as he gets older. I also wonder if this could be part of the reason he doesn’t eat much of a variety of foods. Possibly it is uncomfortable? When I asked him if it burns, he told me his tongue only burns if he eats something that’s too hot. 
This picture shows his tongue “normal”. Maybe next time it’s gets a pattern, I’ll remember to take a picture.
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3 Comments |
Tags: Daily Life, health, kids, the kids
3 Responses for "Geographic Tongue"
I lost 2 days of my database - a glitch. This comment was dropped.
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My son has Geographic Tongue as well. I had never heard of it until the CNP told me what it was. Sometimes it looks as if all the tastebuds have been burnt off of Caleb’s tongue and other times it is just a small spot. It doesn’t seem to hurt him unless it is the whole tongue and then sometimes he will say his tongue burns. She told me it is viral…like the same type of virus that causes fever blisters. He has just gotten over a whole tongue epidose this past week. Take care!
By: Mel McWilliams
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Hope Caleb is doing well now. I’ll have to read up some more and see what there is about it being viral. That’s interesting.
I have geographic tongue.
It’s mostly acidic foods that seem to irritate mine. Any citrus, sometimes Almonds and Walnuts are bad too…
Just foods that have a high acidic content you might want to avoid giving him TOO often. It’s not harmful at all to eat them, just more of an irritation. Like a mosquito bite. Kind of.
In the future, watch for his tongue to start getting deep cracks or grooves, as they can make his tongue swell with the amount of acid he takes in….
I have geographic tongue and have since I was in middle school. It is not contageous and will probably affect him for the rest of his life. It is only a problem for me if I eat spicy foods or swish with mouthwash. It happens to me about twice a month and takes about 1 week to heal up.
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