One of my grandmother’s favorite things was cooking. cold pressed beef tongueeven though it’s a convention I do not feel the have to proceed. Have you ever seen one like that? Not only is it huge, nevertheless it also requires so much of scrubbing, boiling, and ironing, in addition to peeling off the thick layer of skin from the outside before eating.
No thanks, but no thanks.
Tongues, whether bovine or human, are mostly made up of muscles, some controlling their shape and others controlling their movement. They are covered with specialized membranes containing many alternative small bumps, or papillae, which might be connected to our taste buds. They sense the flavors and textures of our food.
The tongue doesn’t just taste and help us swallow what’s in our mouths – its appearance can even give away essential details about our overall health.
Technicolor Tongues
Tongues can are available in a surprisingly wide selection of colours.
Take red tongues for instance. A shiny red, inflamed, swollen tongue is usually known as Strawberry tongue. The warts change into inflamed to appear like pits on the surface, and this will start with a white coating, making the tongue appear like a rather unripe strawberry. The coating then flakes off, leaving the tongue shiny red.
It may sound like a cute name, but the strawberry tongue should all the time be taken seriously. First, it could indicate scarlatinawhich is attributable to bacteria. It is highly contagious but it could be treated with antibiotics. Without treatment, nevertheless, scarlet fever can result in complications reminiscent of rheumatic feverStrawberry tongue can even indicate Kawasaki diseasea potentially serious inflammatory disease, occurring mainly in children. This also must be recognized and treated in hospital as soon as possible.
Strawberry tongue may also be seen in toxic shock syndromea rare, life-threatening condition – and an emergency. The condition is attributable to bacteria entering the body from the skin, releasing harmful toxins. Symptoms include a high fever, muscle pain and a characteristic “sandpaper” rash.
So never ignore the taste of strawberry tongue.
Tongues may also be discolored white and, consider it or not, black. Conditions reminiscent of thrush may cause white tongue while lingua villosa nigra means black, hairy tongueThe name comes from the elongation of the smallest papillae, giving them a hair-like appearance. It is related to smoking, dry mouth, and poor oral hygiene.
Then there are the blue tongues. That is central cyanosisa serious condition where there’s a bluish (or cyan) discolouration of the lips, tongue or face on account of a scarcity of oxygen in the blood or poor circulation. It occurs in a number of heart and lung conditions – and may even be attributable to high altitudes. This is one other medical emergency, requiring a 999 call.
Mapped language
Your tongue may be greater than just red, white, black, and blue. It can tackle some really weird shapes. One example is geographical languagewhere the tip of the tongue changes from rough papillae to patches of smooth red tissue. The tongue looks like a map of the world, and then a landmass floating between oceans.
What’s strange about this condition is that the spots can appear and disappear, changing the appearance of the tongue. It’s a bit like continents drifting, changing positions on water.
Geographic tongue often has few symptoms, although some patients may complain of irritation of the tongue surface or an occasional burning sensation. The condition is totally benign and more common than you may think – it’s estimated that affects 1-3% population.
Detection of geographic tongue can result in the diagnosis of other accompanying disorders too. Some links are stronger than others, but psoriasis, allergic diseases, asthma, and diabetes have all been linked to it.
Debunking myths about language
There are some things that language cannot say – or some claims which have not yet been supported by convincing scientific evidence.
Take for instance the cracks or fissures on the top of our tongues. Most of us will notice one or two cracks on our tongues – often one runs straight down the middle. This appears to be just a standard variation. However, some people have deeper and more quite a few cracks. This is usually called cracked tongue and it seems to have something to do with geographic tongue.
It has been argued that cracks produce other links – for instance, with vitamin and iron deficiencies, in addition to dry mouth (or xerostomia) and smoking, to call a number of. Again, the strength of the link in response to the scientific evidence is variable.
Perhaps one of the best myths surrounding language is that there’s something taught at collegeand which seems to propagate the problem. It is a misconception that different areas of the tongue are sensitive to specific tastes – for instance, sweet at the end, bitter at the end.
This is nonsense. First, most papillae have taste buds (aside from the very small filamentous ones), so all tastes may be experienced in all areas of the tongue. Second, these maps may miss the fifth taste, Umami – comes from the Japanese word for delicious, umami refers to savory flavors. Think parmesan, cooked meat, and tomatoes.
Although the tongue doesn’t have a taste map, in some people it could appear like a map and doctors can read it like an atlas, allowing them to make a wide selection of diagnoses.