One of the complaints at the appointment with the therapist may be pain in the area of the tongue. The patient complains of burning and stinging, feeling very dry and raw on the tongue. It is not uncommon for a therapist to refer such a patient to a dentist. However, the treatment of glossalgia often has to be dealt with by doctors of several specialties, since this disorder is neurological in nature. How to help a patient with glossalgia and not confuse it with more serious health disorders, reviewed estet-portal.com.
Causes of glossalgia from the doctor's and patient's point of view
Women over 40 come with complaints of pain and burning of the tongue 6 times more often than men. This is due to increased female anxiety in relation to cancer. The fact is that glossalgia does not have obvious pathological manifestations. Tongue hurts, sometimes hard palate and lips, but outwardly nothing changes in the mouth – and this leads to the darkest thoughts of a severe latent illness.
Patients usually associate the onset of pain with the following causes:
• injuries of the tongue or oral cavity;
• split pieces from the edge of the tooth that injured the tongue;
• Incorrectly placed fillings or dentures.
Often, patients report the onset of symptoms after nervous breakdowns. Once started, pain and irritation continue to be maintained at the neuro-reflex level and become chronic.
Glossalgia refers to functional disorders, no organic causes of the disorder were found.
When complaining of pain in the tongue, the doctor should remember that the cause may be a disease of the liver and gastrointestinal tract, vascular and endocrine disorders, diseases of the nervous system. In combination with the increased suspiciousness of the patient, they lead to the development of glossalgia.
According to researchers, glossalgia is caused by viscero-reflex bulbar syndrome, which develops when the vagus and glossopharyngeal nerves are affected. Violation of innervation causes symptoms of glossalgia – burning, tingling, slight numbness of the tongue. If some irritating factors are added, the symptoms of glossalgia intensify.
Differences between glossalgia and other diseases with similar symptoms
If glossalgia is suspected, the doctor should try to differentiate its symptoms from organic diseases. The main difference is the discrepancy between the pain in the tongue and the intensity of the impact of the traumatic factor on it. At the same time, the tongue and mucous membrane of the mouth with glossalgia are practically not changed.
With tongue injuries, pain usually has a clear localization and disappears after the traumatic factor is removed (for example, a broken part of a filling or tooth). When the pain in the tongue is caused by neuralgia, it is of a short-term nature and also has a local character – in the field of innervation. at the same time, tactile sensitivity may disappear in the affected area of the nerve, and the pain intensifies during eating.
With glossalgia, the pain is diffuse in nature, its intensification during eating is uncharacteristic.
Practically all patients with glossalgia suffer from fear of serious illnesses, their sleep is disturbed, cardialgia, spastic colitis and other neurotic conditions are detected. Sometimes a doctor can, based on the patient's story about the course of the disease, suggest a tumor and send it for a consultation to an oncologist, while the symptoms of the disease are even more intensified.
How to properly treat glossalgia and eliminate its symptoms
Particularly suspicious patients can be helped by a conversation with a psychologist or a hypnotic sleep, after which the symptoms of glossalgia disappear without a trace.
First of all, in case of complaints of glossalgia, the oral cavity should be examined and sanitized:
• remove dental defects that can cause irritation;
• replace incorrectly fitted dentures;
• form the correct bite height.
In addition, a consultation with a gastroenterologist, endocrinologist, and neurologist should be recommended.
For patients with glossalgia, bromine, iron, B vitamins are indicated, light tranquilizers can be prescribed. Sometimes a good therapeutic effect can be obtained with trimecaine blockades of the lingual nerve, after which its functions are restored, and the symptoms of glossalgia disappear without a trace. .
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