Imagine a world in which you couldn’t talk, taste, chew, or swallow, and you imagine a world without a tongue. This large piece of tissue in your mouth plays a crucial role in many different functions, but it can act as a mirror of your health.
At Northwoods Dental Group, Dr. Nathan Klabunde and our dental team pride ourselves on offering the dental services you need to achieve a healthy and beautiful smile. While your teeth and gums may take center stage, your tongue is as critical, which is why we analyze your tongue during your regular dental exams.
To learn more about why we pay close attention to your tongue, read on.
To call your tongue important would be an understatement. This large muscular organ allows you to nourish yourself as it moves food around your mouth for chewing and then enables swallowing.
Your tongue is also essential for speaking as it allows you to form the necessary sounds that make up words.
As if talking and eating weren’t essential enough, your tongue hosts nearly 2,000 buds that provide you with one of your five senses — taste.
Lastly, your tongue also plays a role in how well you can breathe, as this tissue keeps your airways open.
Thanks to its many roles, our job as oral experts is to check that your tongue is functioning properly. First, we ask you about any symptoms you may be experiencing, such as numbness, loss of taste, or loss of movement in your tongue. These symptoms can be related to certain medications, allergic reactions, autoimmune disorders, hormonal changes, and much more.
After we ask you about any issues you may be having that pertain to your tongue, we perform a visual examination to check for any irregularities,
For example, under normal circumstances, your tongue should be a healthy pink color. If your tongue is lighter or darker than it should be, or it’s discolored, this can indicate several different health issues, including:
During your exam, we also pay close attention to any lesions we might spot on your tongue, which can indicate anything from mild trauma to cold sores related to the herpes simplex virus. More seriously, lesions on your tongue may point to oral cancer.
As you can see, your tongue can very much act as a window to your health, making your annual dental exams more than just a tooth and gum check-up.
If you suspect something is amiss with your tongue or want to learn more about its role in your health, contact our office in Columbus, Ohio, to schedule your dental exam today.
