Cracked Tongue Causes

Tongue is the strongest and one of the most overworked muscles in the human body. This pink fleshy muscle has a shallow line passing through the middle, which is known as the median groove. However, sometimes the tongue may have several fissures present, in which case it is known as cracked tongue. Cracked tongue is a tongue that is deeply fissured or cracked in appearance. These cracks or folds appear all throughout the borders of the dorsal surface of the tongue, in which case it is also known as fissured tongue or scrotal tongue. Although this is very rarely an alarming condition, cracked tongue may simply be unsightly or discomfiting for a person to deal with. Given below are the various causes, symptoms and remedies of the cracked tongue.

What Causes a Cracked Tongue
Although it is difficult to pinpoint an exact cause for cracked tongue, there are many theories that have been put forth to explain the occurrence of this phenomenon. However, all these theories vary in their explanation and hence, till date, no one theory alone has been satisfactorily accepted as the cause of cracked tongue.

Injury to Tongue: Sometimes, a cracked tongue may occur due to trauma to the tongue. Due to continuous frictional brushing of the tongue, especially the lateral borders of the dorsal surface of the tongue, while eating and talking against a broken tooth or fractured tooth, there may be development of cracked tongue. This friction may cause continuous impingement on the tongue, which may lead to fissures and cracks on the tongue.

Hereditary Cause: Although this claim is yet to be backed by conclusive studies, some people say that like tongue rolling, even cracked tongue maybe hereditary in nature. In such cases, most people will have a fissured or cracked tongue right from birth.

Tongue Abnormalities: There are certain conditions which may lead to an appearance of cracked tongue. These include geographic tongue and hairy tongue. Geographic tongue is a condition where there is loss of filiform papillae of the tongue, which often creates a bald patch on the tongue. The borders of these patches may give the appearance of a cracked tongue. Hairy tongue is a condition where there is overgrowth and keratinization of the filiform papillae, which gives the appearance of hair on the tongue, which may eventually get stained, leading to tongue discoloration. This may also form a pattern which may be mistaken for cracked tongue.

Other Causes: Other causes of cracked tongue include anxiety, tension, stress, teeth grinding, excessive intake of spicy food etc. All these basically cause the body to react in an unpredictable manner, due to which it may give rise to a cracked tongue. If there are swellings or bumps on tongue, the demarcation of the swelling could resemble a cracked tongue. This is normally seen when there is a large swelling and the fissures are occurring between the swelling. Sometimes oral thrush or oral yeast infection causes a fissured tongue. Oral thrush is a mouth infection caused by candida fungus in the lining of mouth, or low immune system. A lack of biotin, a B vitamin may also cause cracked or sore tongue. One may experience symptoms like tiredness, weakness, pain in muscle, and dry or gray skin due to the biotin deficiency. Sjogren's syndrome is also one of the causes of a cracked tongue. Other causes implicated in cracked tongue cases include nutritional deficiencies, genetic syndromes etc.

Cracked Tongue Symptoms
The symptoms of cracked tongue will include the appearance of fissures or cracks on the tongue. There may be other symptoms accompanying cracked tongue, like pain, irritation, mouth sores, grooves etc. There may also be increased sensitivity and burning sensation on intake of spicy food. Food particles may get lodged and stuck in the fissures of the tongue, which may make it one of the causes of bad breath. Also, lodged food particles could end up being the breeding ground of microorganisms, thus, leading to candida infection and other fungal and bacterial infections of the tongue.

Cracked Tongue Remedy
Since most cases of cracked tongue are asymptomatic, there is no need for active treatment of cracked tongue. It is instead very important to practice diligent dental care, either by brushing or using tongue cleaners to keep the fissures clean and free of food particles and microorganisms. In case of a swelling on the tongue, contact your dentist immediately, so that he may run a few tests to rule out tongue cancer.

Thus, though cracked tongue is merely a discomforting symptom and rarely indicates the presence of a disease, thus, rarely necessitating treatment, if it is causing excessive pain and discomfort, then it is best to get it diagnosed and treated by a dentist at the earliest so as to prevent further complications.