What Causes Red Painful Tongue?

Posted on Mon, 23 Jun 2014

Question: my husband has a red painful tongue. He is not on any antibiotics, but has multi medical conditions. HYTN controlled. CAD,CHF, type 1 DM insulin dependent semi controlled, as well as cancer survivor at age 26 had hodgins with chemo, radition, and lymph removal & thyroid cancer age 70 . He is currently 74.

Answered by Dr. Sumit Bhatti (52 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
As below:

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for your query.

1. From your description this seems to be a glossitis.

2. There are many causes for a red painful tongue. Some of the possible causes are:
a. Overuse of mouthwashes,
b. Infections, including fungal (Thrush) especially with poor control of diabetes,
c. Dehydration, decreased Salivary flow,
d. Nutritional and mineral deficiencies (including B Complex and Folic Acid),
e. Low hemoglobin (Anemia),
f. Acid reflux,
g. Dental problems,
h. Food allergy or Intolerance,
i. Many rare causes which will require direct examination and tests.

3. Treatment is based on the most likely cause. Topical pain relief may be obtained by the use of Mucaine Gel or an anesthetic gel/mouthwash.

I hope that I have answered your query. If you have any further questions, I will be available to answer them.

Regards.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar