Brown spot on the tongue: causes, description with photos, possible diseases and treatment

Causes of dark plaque on the tongue

Thick deposits that cannot be cleaned off can indicate serious problems in the functioning of the body. The causes of deposits can be both internal and external. The latter include:

• Taking medications such as Faringosept, Malavit, steroids, drugs that contain bismuth.
• Deficiency of nicotinic acid or vitamins PP, group B.
• Black spots appear due to lead poisoning.
• Tobacco smoking, excessive indulgence in fatty foods, sweets, and alcohol.
• Dehydration or acidosis.

The reasons for the appearance of dark plaque lie in many diseases.

1. Advanced oral candidiasis and stomatitis.
2. Severe disturbance of the microflora of the oral cavity.
3. Progressive diseases of the gastrointestinal tract in chronic form - gastritis, enterocolitis, dysbacteriosis, liver pathologies, cholecystitis, pancreatic diseases.
4. Advanced infectious diseases - pneumonia, arthritis, blood diseases, tonsillitis, nephritis, cholera.

Prevention

As such, there is no prevention of black villous tongue. Even with good oral hygiene, you can encounter a similar phenomenon, but with timely treatment of diseases that lead to the development of such a complication, you can minimize the likelihood of the disease occurring.

The following rules must also be observed:

• thoroughly brush your teeth, gums and tongue with a soft brush;
• It is necessary to drink enough water, because if there is a lack of hydration in the oral cavity, it begins to develop; bacteria;
• reduce coffee consumption and quit smoking and alcoholic beverages.

The disease recurs quite rarely. During an exacerbation, the patient is advised to follow a gentle diet; food should be warm and soft in consistency.

Shades of dark color

The color of the tongue can really tell the doctor a lot about the condition of the patient's body. Dark masses on a muscular organ with various ailments have a certain shade.

• A signal about diseases of the digestive system, immunodeficiency, and hormonal imbalances is given by the dark green color of the tongue.
• Dark brown deposits occur with fungal infections, food poisoning, pulmonary diseases, as well as with hemolysis and adrenal insufficiency.
• Dark red deposits appear with scarlet fever, kidney infection, and advanced glossitis.
• With serious damage to the stomach and intestines, the plaque becomes dark gray.
• A black tint suggests cholera.

In addition, Crohn's disease is indicated by black spots on the receptor organ. Black deposits with an acetone odor indicate severe dehydration. Dark substrate and inclusions on the crowns indicate a chromogenic fungal disease. Any therapeutic program, as a rule, includes hygienic cleaning of the oral cavity. In our center it is performed by highly qualified hygienists.

Symptoms

Pathology is immediately detected during a visual examination by a dentist. In the initial stages of the disease, the presence of a foreign object in the mouth is felt, other unpleasant signs gradually appear, then the upper part of the tongue noticeably turns black. In advanced cases, the affected area occupies two-thirds of the tongue. The disease is accompanied by unpleasant odor from the mouth, changes in taste sensations, a metallic taste appears in the mouth, a feeling of tickling and soreness on the surface of the tongue, as well as causeless nausea. In rare cases, there is a burning sensation and severe itching.

Diagnostics

To determine what disease led to the appearance of unpleasant symptoms, an examination is necessary. Diagnosis may include:

1. General and biochemical blood test;
2. Stool and urine analysis;
3. Fluorography and ultrasound;
4. Gastroscopy;
5. Bacterial culture from the tongue;
6. Coprogram;

If a dark coating appears on the tongue, adults should first consult a therapist, and young patients should be shown to a pediatrician. After examination, history taking, palpation of the abdomen and other manipulations, the patient is referred to a specific specialist. Most often, a consultation with a gastroenterologist and an infectious disease specialist is needed. Also, the patient can be referred to an endocrinologist, otolaryngologist, pulmonologist, or toxicologist. The dentist is very helpful.

Hypovitaminosis

In the course of careful research, it was discovered that with a lack of vitamins PP and B vitamins in the child’s body, the mucous membrane of the tongue changes its color. Black plaques or spots appear.

Special cases

Difficult to explain cases include the so-called “black hairy tongue.” The nature of this phenomenon is still being studied, and today doctors cannot give a comprehensive explanation. The picture looks like this: at the tip and root of the tongue, the normal pink color remains, while multiple dark papillae grow on the back.

Dark coating on a child's tongue

It happens that the blackness on the baby’s tongue could remain from his favorite berries - blueberries or currants. Maybe he saw through the ink refill? All this will be washed off after the first hygiene procedure! If these reasons are discarded, then a dark coating on the child’s tongue could appear against the background of pathologies of the child’s body.

• Diseases of the digestive system - enteritis, dysbacteriosis, gastritis, colitis, hepatitis, cholecystitis in advanced stages.
• Untreated infectious diseases - stomatitis, thrush, ARVI.
• Iron deficiency anemia, when children are prescribed iron supplements in liquid form. This product may stain the tongue. But, the unpleasant symptom will go away after the end of the course of therapy.
• Dehydration and acidosis.
• Lead poisoning.
• Black fleecy tongue.

At the slightest suspicion of these diseases, you need to consult a specialist after visiting a pediatrician. By identifying the internal factor that provokes dark color deposits, you can successfully eliminate it.

Dangerous symptoms and which doctor to contact

When black spots on a person’s tongue do not go away within two to three days, increase in size, new spots appear, and the temperature rises, you should go to the doctor.

The first thing you need to do is visit the dentist. If this nature of the problem is excluded, then the doctor will refer the sick person to the therapist’s office. You may need help from a specialist in gastroenterology or oncology.

The main method of diagnosing the disease is bacteriological culture of plaque to determine the type of pathogenic microflora in the mouth, donating blood for analysis. If there is a suspicion of problems with the gastrointestinal tract, a coprogram and ultrasound examination of the organs will be used.

Treatment of dark plaque

Patients with dark deposits on the muscle organ are advised to systematically treat their teeth. This will help avoid unpleasant symptoms. Oral hygiene procedures are mandatory. You should clean not only your incisors and molars, but also your tongue twice a day. You can use a special scraper and gels. It is important not to injure mucous tissues. Treatment of acidosis begins with drinking plenty of fluids.

Of course, it is impossible to get rid of dark layers if the underlying disease is not treated. Therapy is prescribed individually based on the established diagnosis.

1. For stomatitis, you should rinse your mouth with a liquid containing antiseptics such as Hepilor or Chlorophyllipt.
2. Antifungal agents eliminate candidiasis. These are Clotrimazole, Pimafucin, Fluconazole.
3. The microflora in the intestines is restored by probiotics with bifidobacteria and lactobacilli. Most often, Linox and Acipol are prescribed.
4. Prebiotics stimulate the body's production of its own beneficial bacteria. The nutrient medium for them is created by Duphalac and Lactusan.
5. The body's defenses are increased by Cycloferon, Kagocel, Ribomunil.
6. The secretion of gastric juice is stimulated by Limontar and Etimizol, which is important for low acidity.
7. Aggressive gastritis is treated with antibacterial drugs, in particular Cephalexin.
8. Toxic substances are well removed by a sorbent such as Enterosgel.

If the patient complains of heartburn, he is prescribed Rennie, Maalox and other medications. The gastric mucosa is well protected by De-Nol and Venter. Deficiency of vitamins PP and group B is eliminated by taking vitamin complexes. Dietary nutrition is often prescribed. The program is developed for each patient individually.

Measures to be taken

Photo 2: If the color of the tumors does not lighten within several days, then it is necessary to urgently visit a doctor to rule out pathologies such as tongue cancer, glossitis and other diseases.
Source: flickr (Olalla Esquimal). To get rid of stains, it is necessary to determine the root cause of their appearance and eliminate it . A number of diseases accompanied by this symptom can be easily cured with the help of medications and vitamin complexes. Along with medications taken orally, treatment of the organ surface . This procedure is carried out using the following means:

• decoctions of sage and chamomile;
• Imudon or Lysobact tablets;
• solutions of miramistin or chlorhexidine;
• treatment in a hospital with liquid nitrogen.

If fungal infection occurs , bifidobacteria and lactobacilli and probiotics are prescribed to normalize the microflora, as well as antifungal drugs such as nystatin, livarol, fluconazole or diflucan.

Oral cancer

Tongue melanoma is a less common type of oral cancer. Brown spots on the tongue caused by oral cancer are extremely rare. You can assume the occurrence of cancer if its appearance is accompanied by other symptoms - difficulty moving the jaw when speaking, swallowing, bleeding wounds on the face, neck, mouth, hoarseness, chronic soreness in the throat.

In this case, you should not give in to panic; cancerous tumors can be treated with chemical medications, radiation, which destroys carcinogenic cells, as well as through surgery aimed at removing the tumor.

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Tongue piercing

In some cases, pigmentation disappears in the tongue piercing area, leaving only dark-colored spots. They can occur not only due to bleeding that occurs during the puncture, but due to the presence of jewelry in the oral cavity.

If an infection occurs during the piercing, it should be treated in a timely manner. In addition, it is important to perform all necessary postoperative manipulations and use only gold or titanium jewelry, as they are the least allergenic.