7 Things Your Tongue Can Tell You About Your Health

This article was originally published on www.health.com by Amanda Gardner

Sure, your tongue helps you chew, swallow, and taste food–then gab about how delicious (or not!) the meal was. But your tongue can also do much more, including providing a snapshot of your overall health.

Symptoms of many chronic and acute illnesses can appear on your tongue. In fact, sometimes they’re among the very first signs that something is amiss.

So what’s normal for a tongue? “Pinkish-red–not bright red–with bumps and waves,” says Sally Cram, DDS, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association and a practicing periodontist in Washington, DC.

Anything else could be a sign of one of these health conditions.

Diabetes

Oral thrush is common among people with uncontrolled diabetes. In fact, it can be the first sign that you have the chronic condition simply because people often see their dentist more regularly than a doctor. Thrush is usually the result of a weakened immune system. Thrush–essentially a fungal yeast infection and also called oral candidiasis–looks like a heavy, white coating on your tongue, says Cram. Some people describe it as the consistency of cottage cheese.

People with diabetes are also more likely to have dry mouth. “Most folks with diabetes are somewhat dehydrated,” says Ryan Kauffman, MD, an ear, nose, and throat specialist at Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta. “The tongue can be kind of shriveled up and lose some of its normal appearance.”

HIV

Decades ago, when HIV/AIDS was an almost-certain killer, the white pasty covering on the tongue of oral thrush could be one of the first, ominous signs of infection.

Like with diabetes, a weakened immune system due to HIV or AIDS makes it hard for you to fight off organisms like yeast that normally co-exist happily in your body.

Red sores on your tongue and elsewhere in your mouth can also be a sign of HIV/AIDS, as can white hairy-looking growths on the sides of your tongue called hairy leukoplakia.

Nowadays, there are many effective treatments for HIV/AIDS, including medication to prevent infection and its many consequences.