1 /12 Bumps, patches, and spots in your mouth can be harmless. But sometimes, they can give clues to what's going on with your overall health. Infections, stress, medication issues, and even aging. Tongue problems may include a tongue that's painful, enlarged or swollen, oddly textured or an unusual color, like white, yellow, brown or black. Infection, inflammation and conditions you're born with or develop later in life can all cause symptoms affecting your tongue. Most tongue problems are easy to diagnose and treat.
Basic Tongue Diagnosis Chart AcuMedic Clinic
Tongue diagnosis is used all the time by acupuncturists and practitioners trained in Chinese medicine. It is an important way to diagnose a patient's health and sometimes can be crucial in deciding what to do first. In fact, I'm surprised when acupuncturists don't use it. When to see a doctor Takeaway A healthy tongue is typically pink in color, though it may vary slightly in dark and light shades. An unhealthy tongue, however, may be white, red, black, or. Advertisement Geographic tongue - This condition causes a map-like pattern of reddish spots to develop on the surface of your tongue. "These patches can have a white border around them, and their location on your tongue may shift over time," says Dr. Allan. " Geographic tongue is usually harmless." Your physician or dentist usually can diagnose geographic tongue by looking at your tongue and going over your symptoms. During the exam, your physician or dentist may: Use a lighted instrument to check your tongue and mouth. Ask you to move your tongue around in various positions.
What is tongue diagnosis and how does it work? by Transformational
Hypertrophy of filiform papillae, tongue discoloration (white, tan, black) No treatment necessary, but gentle brushing or scraping of tongue may be helpful. Associated with tobacco use, poor oral. Causes of changes in tongue color. A bright pink color on the tongue is most often due to a deficiency in iron, folic acid, or vitamin B-12. An allergic reaction to gluten can also cause this. A. Review the tongue diagnosis chart below to see some of the most typical examples. Which Tongue are You? An example of tongue diagnosis. One of the benefits of tongue diagnosis is the ability to help us make a differential diagnosis, which identifies the cause of a particular symptom. For example, if someone has low back pain, that pain could be. Brushing the tongue with a toothbrush or scraping it with a tongue scraper can remove such discoloration. A small blue-black discoloration on the underside of the tongue may be a tattoo caused by a fragment of dental amalgam filling material, which contains silver, becoming stuck in the tongue. A pale and smooth tongue can be caused by iron.
Tongue Diagnosis Chart Clinical Charts and Supplies
A healthy tongue is pink in color. If your tongue color is white, yellow, orange, red, black, purple, gray, green or blue, it could mean you have an underlying health condition. If you have tongue discoloration that doesn't go away, tell your healthcare provider. They can help determine the best course of action. Nutritional deficiencies or infections can change the color and texture of your tongue. In traditional Chinese medicine, practitioners assess the color, shape, moisture, and thickness of the tongue as part of their diagnostic approach. A new study found that tongue images were 95% accurate in diagnosing conditions such as diabetes and anemia.
TCM diagnosis is generally based on the information obtained from four diagnostic processes: inspection, auscultation and olfaction, inquiry, and palpation. Inspection tops the four ways of TCM diagnosis, and the tongue is the primary subject for TCM inspection [ 2 , 3 ]. Chapter 3 The Technique of Tongue Diagnosis The patient's face is turned to the light and the tongue is examined in a flat, stretched out position, not, however, to the extent that its natural color changes (Fig.17). It is best to examine the tongue by daylight.
Basic Tongue Diagnosis AcuMedic Clinic
Red. A red (not dark pink) tongue could indicate as something as simple as a B vitamin deficiency, which can be remedied by supplementation. Scarlet fever, eczema, and Kawasaki disease may also. Ideally, we should have a perfect balance of heat, cold, yin, yang, Qi (energy), blood, and body fluids. These should all flow freely from one TCM organ system to the next. The tongue is one of the tools we use to make this assessment. Chinese Medicine Tongue Map The tongue is a reverse map of the torso of the body.