Your tongue is a muscular organ found inside the mouth that serves as a gateway to your body. Everything you eat and put in your mouth stops by your tongue on the way. Moreover, the tongue is extremely porous, making it the perfect growing place for bacteria and fungi.
More often than not, people often tend to neglect the tongue as part of the system. But what you didn’t know is that, your tongue can give you a possible overview of what health problems you are probably be facing which you are unaware of.
It is important that you take note of what the tongue normally looks like.
-Tongue should be pink
-It should be covered with papillae
–It should be fairly wet
If you’ll notice a deviation such as the following:
A red tongue may be caused by a vitamin B12 deficiency.
Kawasaki disease and scarlet fever also has a pathognomonic sign of red tongue.
2.White Tongue / Tongue with white spots/
This may be one of the most common signs that something isn’t quite right in your body. A white tongue is most often caused by oral thrush, a yeast infection that may not resolve on its own.
3.Black, Hairy tongue:
Black, hairy Tongue usually is an adverse side effect of taking oral antibiotics. Therefore, it is important that you check your mouth frequently especially when your taking oral antibiotics for quite a long time.
In some cases, an unhealthy tongue indicates that you need to change your lifestyle. For example, if you are prone to oral thrush, your diet should be low in sugar and carbohydrates. Also, if you have frequent canker sores, you may have to limit your food intake which is low in acid and fat. It is important to treat your tongue as any other parts of your body that needs special attention. It is best that whenever you brush your teeth, pay attention to stop, look and assess your tongue and do not forget to sweep the floor of your tongue to remove sugars and bacteria that might possibly be seethed between the papillae.