The Connection between Your Tongue and Your Health

You may find it interesting that your tongue can help you know a lot about your health. The outlook of your tongue can change due to different conditions in your body. It means that if you know about this connection between the tongue and health, you can know about the problem you go through by just looking into the mirror.

A healthy tongue is pink in color and its papillae look quite even throughout the surface of the tongue. However, there are many conditions which can change the way your tongue and papillae seem. In some cases, you may feel pain or numbness in your tongue.

The appearance of white patches or spots

There can be different reasons for the appearance of white patches or spots on your tongue. Some of those reasons are worth mentioning here.

• The first to mention is the yeast infection which is also known as oral thrush. Most typically, this problem occurs in infants and elder people. The reason for occurrence of this condition is usually the weaker immune system. Diabetes can also be the reason for appearance of oral thrush.
• The overgrowth of cells on your tongue can cause the appearance of white patches and lines on your tongue. This condition is known as leukoplakia. While this condition of the tongue can be a precursor to cancer in some cases, it is not itself a dangerous condition. Nevertheless, you should immediately see you dentist whenever you see this condition.
• Another condition to talk about is the Oral lichen planus. This condition results in the appearance of white lines on the tongue that appear in the form of laces. Good thing is that this condition goes away on its own.

The red tongue

The redness of tongue can be due to several conditions which may be related to oral health, overall health or both.

• The most common reason for the red tongue is the vitamin deficiency. Specific vitamins missing which can cause redness of tongue are folic acid and vitamin B-12.
• Geographic tongue is the name of condition in which the tongue develops red patches surrounded by white lines, giving an outlook of the tongue. This issue of tongue is usually harmless.
• Another condition which can result in the tongue having a red-strawberry color is the scarlet fever. This condition usually occurs due to bacterial infection in the body. Antibiotic medication can be the answer of this condition.

Black and hairy tongue

The papillae on the tongue grow during a lifetime. However, these papillae grow longer in some people. When they are overgrown, bacteria can reside in those papillae. This bacterial presence can result in back tongue which looks hairy as well. The major reasons for this condition include diabetes, antibiotic medication and/or chemotherapy.

Be careful about your tongue

Your tongue can say a lot of things about your health. This is reason that you should look at your tongue and watch out for the conditions which may be happening on your body. You can also get your tongue checked when you visit your dentist.

Conditions and Factors That Can Cause Pain in Your Teeth

Tooth pain can be quite irritating. Even if it’s the mild form you are suffering from, you are going to want to get rid of as soon as you can. In this situation, you will have to know about the right reason for the pain. Knowing about root cause can help you go for the right treatment.

It would be worth mentioning the conditions and factors that can cause tooth pain.

• Sometimes, you may clench your jaws. This clenching may be the result of anger, stress or any other psychological reasons. The consequence of jaw clenching is that it can lead to the enamel on the chewing side to wear out.
• The chewing side of your teeth can wear out while you don’t remember clenching your teeth. The matter of fact is that this clenching can happen while you are asleep. This can be due to a sleep disorder, missing tooth or incorrect bite.
• If you want to maintain your oral hygiene in an ideal way, you may need to rinse your mouth using a mouthwash. But it doesn’t mean that you should start overdoing this mouth rinsing activity. Some of the mouth rinses contain acids at some extent.
• Endurance training is good for your health but studies suggest that these training can cause tooth decay. As a result, you may have pain in your teeth. Although the exact connection between endurance training and tooth pain is not known, experts believe that it can be due to reduced saliva while training.
• If your sinuses are stuffed with congestion, you might feel pain in your back teeth. This is due to the fact that roots of back teeth are usually exposed to the congestion in the sinuses.
• Hormonal changes during pregnancy can result in swollen and tender gums. The gum inflammation during pregnancy is most commonly known as pregnancy gingivitis. While this condition is not permanent, taking care of your teeth becomes important because if you are not taking care of your gums during this time period, you might end up making this condition permanent.
• The jammed jaw due to problem in TMJ can result in toothache of severe kind. This jamming can happen due to arthritis, injury or any other health condition.
• Using strips at home or getting teeth whitened in the dental office usually involves exposure of teeth to the acidic gels that wash away germs and bacteria. However, they also demineralize the enamel at some extent. In this scenario, pain due to sensitivity may occur. However, this pain is not permanent and it goes away in a few days.

Above mentioned are just a few factors that can cause your teeth to hurt; and there can be more of them. Whenever you feel tooth pain, you need to make sure that you visit your dentist to get your teeth checked.