A burning tongue is a continuously burning sensation in every corner of the tongue. For this situation, there are two medical terms, glossodynia and glossopyrosis. Generally, there are no visible signs. If the burning is also present on lips, inner cheeks, soft and hard palate of the mouth, gums etc then it is termed as a burning mouth syndrome. The patient having burning tongue may or may not have decreased or altered taste.
Burning tongue can be caused by a problem with the nerves supplying to the tongue or by a decreased amount of blood to the tongue. Luckily, most of the patients with the burning tongue will not experience any changes in taste.
Causes of a burning tongue
- Hormonal deficiency and/or abnormality
- Diabetes
- Menopause
- Oral candida such as oral yeast
- Dry mouth such as xerostomia
- Some medications like diuretics, oral diabetic meds, some blood pressure meds
- Blood abnormalities such as dyscrasias and anemia
- Nutritional deficiencies (especially vitamin B-12, niacin, iron, or folic acid)
- Gastric acid reflux
- Allergies such as foods, toothpastes, mouthwashes, chewing gums
- Geographic tongue
- Dental disease
- Noxious oral habits such as tongue biting, scalloped tongue
- Psychological causes such as depression
- Chronic infections
- Inflammatory disorders
- Lingual nerve damage
- Tobacco use
- Oral cancer.
Home remedies for Burning Tongue
One of the best home remedies for burning tongue is to chew a sugar free gum.
For the nonce, start to use the baking soda for brushing the teeth and avoid brushing using toothpaste. This is one of the best burning tongue treatment.
The most important thing is giving up spicy and hot food till you are fully burning tongue cure. These foods irritate the tongue and also burn the tongue more making the case worse.
Diet for Burning Tongue - One should try to include iron rich food in routine diet.
One should regularly consume enough vitamin B complex. This can be taken in the form of pills/capsules or in the form of vegetables and fruits, which are rich source of the vitamin. This is also a burning tongue remedy.
One of the good home remedy for burning tongue is gargling with decoction prepared from the Ayurvedic herbs called ‘Triphala’. This is said to be cooling for tongue.
The best home remedies for burning tongue is taking the decoction made up with Babool (an Ayurvedic herb) which will not only make you feel relieve from the symptoms of burning but it has also properties of reducing the inflammation.
Old time home remedy for burning tongue is putting an ice-cube in the mouth. This will give temporary relief from burning sensation.
One should keep the body hydrated. For this, taking plenty of water or healthy drinks all the time will be better idea. Mind it that dry tongue burns more. This is one of the natural remedy for burning tongue.
Some of the naturopaths suggest that to put glycerin on the tongue might help in many cases. This is one of the effective burning tongue treatment.
Ayurvedic experts suggest therapies called ‘Kavala’ and ‘Gandusha’ that will help reducing an inflammation in the mouth especially inflamed and burning tongue. This is one of the natural remedy for burning tongue.