COVID Tongue – A Rare Symptom to Spot Out

Many COVID-19 patients have complained of bumps, swellings on the tongue, along with mouth ulcers. Such symptoms are collectively called as COVID tongue.

As we step into the third year of the COVID pandemic, the occurrence of the varied symptoms and the emergence of new variants of the virus are a serious threat to mankind.

Learn What Your Tongue Says About Your General Health
The changes in the tongue's normal appearance are linked to the function of various vital organs, which provide clues about what is going on within our overall health.

‘COVID tongue is one of the many peculiar COVID infection symptoms.’

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Many patients today do not complain of the classic symptoms like breathlessness or loss of taste and smell, instead, they are complaining of a wide range of symptoms which quite distinct from one another. COVID tongue is one among them.

How to spot it?

A COVID tongue looks white, patchy, and swollen. Some people might also have bumps or open areas called ulcers on their tongue. Because of this, many people might experience pain while eating.

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Maintaining proper tongue posture as a preventive measure may help avoid several health issues such as misaligned teeth, poor breathing habits, and improper swallowing. Certain tongue exercises can help to achieve this.

In addition to this, people may experience a loss of taste and a burning sensation in their mouth.

Causes

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Tongue bacteria can help identify people who are at a risk of heart failure, as tongue coating and tongue colour differ between chronic heart failure (CHF) patients and healthy individuals.

Oral thrush fungus caused either by the coronavirus or medications used to treat COVID might be the reason behind COVID tongue.

The Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE) receptors that help with the entry of coronavirus can cause the swelling in the COVID tongue.

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Burning mouth syndrome occurs in adults over 40 years of age where they may feel burning sensation in the mouth but there is no clear cause or treatment.

Another reason for COVID's tongue is dry mouth. Due to COVID-19, the salivary glands of the mouth secrete less saliva which leads to dryness in the mouth.

The Omicron variant-induced infection showed symptoms like common cold and COVID tongue along with a few other signs like muscle pain, diarrhea, and skin rashes.

Treatment

There is currently no targeted treatment for the COVID tongue. In some cases, the treatments you receive for COVID will be enough to resolve the COVID tongue. When COVID tongue is more severe and doesn’t respond to overall treatment, you might receive specialized treatment.

More information about the COVID tongue will be available as more research occurs in the future.

Source-Medindia